Re: simple set operations
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg57653] Re: simple set operations
- From: David Bailey <dave at Remove_Thisdbailey.co.uk>
- Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2005 05:33:37 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <d7mk8b$c5m$1@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Edward Peschko wrote:
> hey all,
>
> I'm hesitant to ask these questions (because they are so simple) but after a
> 15 minute search through the docs I'm getting nowhere, so here goes:
>
> 1) what's the easiest way to generate a list of elements? ie:
>
> 'a' .. 'h' == { a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h }
>
> 2) Is there a quick way to check whether an element is in a set?
>
> if ('a' == (any('a','b','c','d')) { print "a is in a,b,c,d"; }
>
> The first one I see could possibly be done by 'Array', but I don't see how -
> the '#' refers to the generation of numbers, but there seems to be no
> corresponding 'letter' symbol.
>
>
> As for #2, the easiest way would be through an overloading of the '==' operator,
> but again, that doesn't seem to work..
>
> Thanks much for any help,
>
> Ed
>
Hi Ed,
Try CharacterRange["a","h"], if you really want to generate that
particular list. There are also lots of other ways to generate lists -
using Table, for example.
Your second question can be solved using MemberQ.
I think you may be making the mistake of trying to use Mathematica for a
very specific task before you have mastered enough of it to get a feel
for how it works. You do need to read the book and try the examples a
bit before it clicks!
David Bailey
http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk