Re: Algebraic re-substitution
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg71095] Re: Algebraic re-substitution
- From: Paul Abbott <paul at physics.uwa.edu.au>
- Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 06:07:36 -0500 (EST)
- Organization: The University of Western Australia
- References: <eicn5h$ft3$1@smc.vnet.net>
In article <eicn5h$ft3$1 at smc.vnet.net>, "James" <cannonjunk at hotmail.com> wrote: > I am trying to work out how to simplify an equation by resubstituting > variables back into the result to make the result more readable. As a > simple example: > > In three dimentions, the distance between two points is given by: > r[xi_,yi_,zi_,xj_,yj_zj_] := Sqrt[(xj-xi)^2 + (yj-yi)^2 + (zj-zi)^2] > > If I have an equation like: > V=r[xi,yi,zi,xj,yj,zj]^2+2r[xi,yi,zi,xj,yj,zj]-5 > > Then I can tell mathematica to find the derivative, wrt xi: > f=D[V,xi] > > This will then result in a long equation with many xi's, yi's, etc... > which would look much cleaner and simpler is mathematica re-substituted > r back into the equation. > > How can I get mathematica to do this? I have been playing with Simplify > and FullSimplify, but I can't work it out. My actual problem is much > more complicated, but I made this up as a basic example to illustrate > the question. Here is one way. Automatically simplify your results using $Post. $Post := Simplify[# //. r[xi, yi, zi, xj, yj, zj]^2 -> r^2, r > 0] & r[xi_,yi_,zi_,xj_,yj_,zj_] = Sqrt[(xj-xi)^2 + (yj-yi)^2 + (zj-zi)^2] V=r[xi,yi,zi,xj,yj,zj]^2+2r[xi,yi,zi,xj,yj,zj]-5 D[V,xi] Cheers, Paul _______________________________________________________________________ Paul Abbott Phone: 61 8 6488 2734 School of Physics, M013 Fax: +61 8 6488 1014 The University of Western Australia (CRICOS Provider No 00126G) AUSTRALIA http://physics.uwa.edu.au/~paul