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Or in a Select question

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg67066] Or in a Select question
  • From: János <janos.lobb at yale.edu>
  • Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 04:54:07 -0400 (EDT)
  • Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

Hi,

I have a list

lst={a,b,c}

I make another list from it the following way:

In[2]:=
pp = Partition[Tuples[lst,
     2], 2, 1]
Out[2]=
{{{a, a}, {a, b}},
   {{a, b}, {a, c}},
   {{a, c}, {b, a}},
   {{b, a}, {b, b}},
   {{b, b}, {b, c}},
   {{b, c}, {c, a}},
   {{c, a}, {c, b}},
   {{c, b}, {c, c}}}

 From here I would like to select all the elements whose sublists  
contain only different elements.  So my "logical" selection was:

In[54]:=
Select[pp,
   #1[[1,1]] =!= #1[[1,2]] ||
     #1[[2,1]] =!= #1[[2,
       2]] & ]
Out[54]=
{{{a, a}, {a, b}},
   {{a, b}, {a, c}},
   {{a, c}, {b, a}},
   {{b, a}, {b, b}},
   {{b, b}, {b, c}},
   {{b, c}, {c, a}},
   {{c, a}, {c, b}},
   {{c, b}, {c, c}}}

Well, that did not do any damage to the list.  After some time I came  
up with this one:

In[49]:=
Complement[pp, Select[pp,
    Xor[#1[[1,1]] =!=
       #1[[1,2]],
      #1[[2,1]] =!= #1[[2,
        2]]] & ]]
Out[49]=
{{{a, b}, {a, c}},
   {{a, c}, {b, a}},
   {{b, c}, {c, a}},
   {{c, a}, {c, b}}}

That looks OK, but also looks too complicated.  Why my "logical" one  
does not work here?

Interestingly if I just use either the left or right side of the Or,  
that partial select is working.  For example:

In[65]:=
Select[pp, #1[[1,1]] =!=
     #1[[1,2]] & ]
Out[65]=
{{{a, b}, {a, c}},
   {{a, c}, {b, a}},
   {{b, a}, {b, b}},
   {{b, c}, {c, a}},
   {{c, a}, {c, b}},
   {{c, b}, {c, c}}}

Now if I try with Cases and conditional pattern matching then the  
selection for sublists with identical elements works:

In[98]:=
Cases[pp, {u_, v_} /;
    u[[1]] === u[[2]] ||
     v[[1]] === v[[2]]]
Out[98]=
{{{a, a}, {a, b}},
   {{b, a}, {b, b}},
   {{b, b}, {b, c}},
   {{c, b}, {c, c}}}

If I change here the === to =!=, then I do not get again that I expect:

In[103]:=
Cases[pp,
   (({u_, v_} /; u[[1]]) =!=
      u[[2]] || v[[1]]) =!=
    v[[2]]]
 From In[103]:=
\!\(\*
   RowBox[{\(Part::"partd"\),
     ":", "\<\"Part specification \\!\\(u \[LeftDoubleBracket] 2 \
\[RightDoubleBracket]\\) is longer than depth of object. \
\\!\\(\\*ButtonBox[\\\"More\[Ellipsis]\\\", ButtonStyle->\\ 
\"RefGuideLinkText\
\\\", ButtonFrame->None, ButtonData:>\\\"General::partd\\\"]\\)\"\>"}]\)
 From In[103]:=
\!\(\*
   RowBox[{\(Part::"partd"\),
     ":", "\<\"Part specification \\!\\(v \[LeftDoubleBracket] 2 \
\[RightDoubleBracket]\\) is longer than depth of object. \
\\!\\(\\*ButtonBox[\\\"More\[Ellipsis]\\\", ButtonStyle->\\ 
\"RefGuideLinkText\
\\\", ButtonFrame->None, ButtonData:>\\\"General::partd\\\"]\\)\"\>"}]\)
Out[103]=
{}
 From In[104]:=
Part::"partd":"Part specification \!\(u \[LeftDoubleBracket] 2 \
\[RightDoubleBracket]\) is longer than depth of object. \
\!\(\*ButtonBox[\"More\[Ellipsis]\", ButtonStyle->\"RefGuideLinkText 
\", \
ButtonFrame->None, ButtonData:>\"General::partd\"]\)"
 From In[104]:=
Part::"partd":"Part specification \!\(v \[LeftDoubleBracket] 2 \
\[RightDoubleBracket]\) is longer than depth of object. \
\!\(\*ButtonBox[\"More\[Ellipsis]\", ButtonStyle->\"RefGuideLinkText 
\", \
ButtonFrame->None, ButtonData:>\"General::partd\"]\)"

if I change =!= to only != then I still do not get that I expect:

In[108]:=
Cases[pp, {u_, v_} /;
    u[[1]] != u[[2]] ||
     v[[1]] != v[[2]]]
Out[108]=
{}

Obviously I am not GETting something here :)

Thanks ahead,

János
P.S.  It is 5.1 on OSX 10.4.6.  I know that Or evaluates in a non- 
traditional way and looked the Appendix - that is how I ended up with  
Xor.






----------------------------------------------
Trying to argue with a politician is like lifting up the head of a  
corpse.
(S. Lem: His Master Voice)


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