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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Bug Report - Two numerical values for a same variable

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  • Subject: [mg54473] Re: [mg54411] Re: [mg54350] Re: [mg54300] Re: [mg54271] Re: Bug Report - Two numerical values for a same variable
  • From: DrBob <drbob at bigfoot.com>
  • Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 03:44:41 -0500 (EST)
  • References: <00ed01c512b0$2f242850$6400a8c0@Main> <curpbn$r28$1@smc.vnet.net> <200502150438.XAA29728@smc.vnet.net> <200502161936.OAA19223@smc.vnet.net> <d3d3aacf7f18939828890ce85676bd26@mimuw.edu.pl> <opsmcn3rqciz9bcq@monster> <07c9f53bde86ce72650298f7c2a6ccbc@mimuw.edu.pl> <opsmcqckt8iz9bcq@monster> <200502190731.CAA06012@smc.vnet.net> <200502200508.AAA20041@smc.vnet.net>
  • Reply-to: drbob at bigfoot.com
  • Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

>> I have no difficulty with Mathematica counting such things
>> as Complex[E, Pi] as meaningless (although syntactically
> correct).

Have WRI document this, and I have no difficulty with it, either.

It's tiresome getting, from a snappish third-party, SO many of the explanations WRI should provide.

Bobby

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 00:08:28 -0500 (EST), Murray Eisenberg <murray at math.umass.edu> wrote:

> I understand everything you say.  Here's the crux, I think, of my not
> being able to "rationalize" Mathematica's definition of what is or is
> not an atom:
>
> Why is FullForm[2 + 3 I] not Plus[2, Times[3, I]]?
>
> Why is FullForm[2/3] not  Times[2, Power[3, -1]] ?
>
> My suspicion is that this was simply a design decision made for reasons
> of efficiency, and that therefore not much more can be said about it.
> That's what makes it hard for me to swallow and explain to others.
>
> P.S. Unlike some others, I have no difficulty with Mathematica counting
> such things as Complex[E, Pi] as meaningless (although syntactically
> correct).
>
>
> Andrzej Kozlowski wrote:
>> ...
>> Complex[Pi,E] does not have any meaning in Mathemaitca at all. Neither
>> does Complex[Sqrt[2],Sqrt[3]] etc. Complex[a,b] only has a meaning when
>> a and b are real numbers (exact or approximate).
>>
>> ...
>> Of course all of these statements refer to the design of the language.
>> To me they seem perfectly logical and natural. To you presumably not.
>> Well, then there is nothing else to say.
>



-- 
DrBob at bigfoot.com
www.eclecticdreams.net


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