lists of variables
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg58252] lists of variables
- From: Paul Abbott <paul at physics.uwa.edu.au>
- Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2005 03:28:42 -0400 (EDT)
- Organization: The University of Western Australia
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Heath Gerhardt <heathgerhardt at hotmail.com> wrote:
> I need to make lists of variables, for example
>
> {t1,t2,t3}
>
> but have not been able to figure out how to make Mathematica do this.
> Tried using
>
> Array[t,3]
>
> which gives
>
> {t[1],t[2],t[3]}
>
> but then I don't know how to set the t[i]'s in expressions similar to
>
> F[t[1]_,t[2]_,t[3]_]:=Cos[t[1]+t[2]-t[3]]
Apart from the suggestions of other respondents, there is another
approach to this sort of problem. If your goal is to define a function
that performs some operation on a list of variables, list operations
instead. For example, defining
f[x_List] := Cos[x[[1]] + x[[2]] - x[[3]]] /; Length[x]==3
Then both
f[{t1, t2, t3}]
and
f[Array[t, {3}]]
work. Indeed you can also use subscripted variables as arguments.
Moreover, if your list operations treat all elements on an equal
footing, then the definitions are simpler. For example, defining
g[x_List] := Cos[Tr[x]]
then your F is just g[t1, t2, -t3].
Cheers,
Paul
--
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