Re: ArcTan[1/0] no result, but ArcTan[Infinity] ok. How to resolve?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg56922] Re: ArcTan[1/0] no result, but ArcTan[Infinity] ok. How to resolve?
- From: dh <dh at metrohm.ch>
- Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 03:42:28 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <d5mukl$dru$1@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Hi Steve, If you are know what you are doing, you could redefine the value of 0^-1 by the following: Unprotect[Power]; Power[0, -1] = DirectedInfinity[1]; with this you will then get: ArcTan[1/0] --> Pi/2 Sincerely, Daniel steve wrote: > hi; > Mathematica 5.1, on windows. > > ArcTan[1/0] gives an error but > ArcTan[Infinity] gives the correct answer. > > One way to make ArcTan[1/0] give Pi/2 is to > write it as ArcTan[0,1]. > > I do know that 1/0 is DirectedInfinity[] with > unknown direction while Infinity is > DirectedInfinity[1], and that is probably the > reason that ArcTan[1/0] gives an error > but ArcTan[Infinity] does not. > > I am asking is how to make 1/0 result in DirectedInfinity[1] > to avoid the error? is this possible? > > What function do I need to wrap 1/0 with to > cause it to become Infinity[1] instead of > Infinity[] ? or may be I need to figure how > to detect if a division results in Infinity[] > and convert that to Infinity[1]? do I need > to redfine 1/0 somehow? may be make a new > rule to say if Mathematica see 1/0 expression then > make it Infinity[1]? but may be this will screw > other things? > > Or may I should not mess with this stuff and > just change the code to ArcTan[x,y] instead of > ArcTan[y/x] and be happy? > > thanks, > Steve >