Re: What is the purpose of the Defer Command?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg81916] Re: What is the purpose of the Defer Command?
- From: Vince Virgilio <blueschi at gmail.com>
- Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2007 04:46:33 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <fe4uhp$155$1@smc.vnet.net>
On Oct 5, 5:01 am, "David Park" <djmp... at comcast.net> wrote: > I do not understand the utility of the new Defer statement in Mathematica > Version 6. Also, it seems to me to be similar to, but not as good as, the > HoldTemporary command introduced by Ted Ersek on MathSource a few years ago. > > The help for Defer says: "Defer[expr] yields an object that displays as the > unevaluated form of expr, but which is evaluated if it is explicitly given > as Mathematica input." What does 'given as Mathematica input' mean? The > examples seem to only involve copying and pasting, which I don't consider a > great method for doing mathematics, or evaluation in place. > > I would like to understand how Defer might be used in expository notebooks > to clarify some piece of mathematics. The problem is that it requires an > interactive action, which would be invisible to a reader of a notebook. I > think the idea of 'modification in place' is poor in technical communication > because it destroys the record of what was done. > > (In the examples below, whenever an output resulted in an expression that > copied as a box structure, I converted to InputForm to simplify the > posting.) > > Here is a simple example: > > y = Defer[1 + 1] > 1 + y giving > > 1 + 1 > > 1 + (1 + 1) > > I would prefer that the Defer expression would have evaluated in the second > statement but I guess it is logical that it didn't. If I write: > > 1 + y > > then select the y and Evaluate In Place I obtain the following, which must > then be further evaluated to obtain 3. > > 1 + 1 + 1 > > 3 > > A second example. I want to show an integral without evaluation and then the > evaluated result. I have to write the following expression, then select the > second line of output, evaluate in place, and then I obtain the result - but > as an Input cell. This is certainly a place where HoldForm would be better. > > Defer[Integrate[x^2 Exp[-x], {x, 0, 1}]] > % > giving > > Integrate[x^2/E^x, {x, 0, 1}] > > 2 - 5/\[ExponentialE] (which is an Input cell) > > Here is third example. Defer does not evaluate and we obtain an error > message. > > numb = Defer[2^67 - 1] > FactorInteger[numb] giving > > 2^67 - 1 > > FactorInteger::"exact" : "\"Argument \!\(\*SuperscriptBox[\"2\", \ > \"67\"]\) - 1 in FactorInteger[\!\(\*SuperscriptBox[\"2\", \"67\"]\) \ > - 1] is not an exact number\"" > > FactorInteger[2^67 - 1] > > But it works if I copy and paste into FactorInteger. > > Now, look at the behavior of Ted's MathSource package. > > Needs["Enhancements`HoldTemporary`"] > > y = HoldTemporary[1 + 1] > 1 + y giving > > 1 + 1 > > 3 > > The expression is evaluated if it is an argument of some function. > > HoldTemporary[Integrate[x^2 Exp[-x], {x, 0, 1}]] > Identity[%] > giving > > Integrate[x^2/E^x, {x, 0, 1}] > > 2 - 5/\[ExponentialE] (which is an Output cell) > > numb = HoldTemporary[2^67 - 1] > FactorInteger[numb] giving > > 2^67 - 1 > > {{193707721, 1}, {761838257287, 1}} > > Much better. I might be missing the point, but I don't think that Defer is > at all well designed. > > There is another Hold that is very useful. This is one that holds an > operation but evaluates the arguments. We have a HoldOp statement in the > Tensorial package. > > Needs["TensorCalculus4V6`Tensorial`"] > > ?HoldOp > > HoldOp[operation][expr] will prevent the given operation from being > evaluated in expr. Nevertheless, other operations within expr will be > evaluated. Operation may be a pattern, including alternatives, that > represents heads of expressions. The HoldOp can be removed with ReleaseHold. > > One reason we want the arguments to evaluate is that the arguments often > contain tensor shortcut expressions and we want them evaluated to show the > full tensor expression inside some operation. However, there are many other > uses. > > f[x_] := Sin[x] \[ExponentialE]^x > > We would like f[x] to be evaluated inside the Integrate statement, but hold > the actual itegration. > > Integrate[f[x], {x, 0, \[Pi]}] // HoldOp[Integrate] > % // ReleaseHold > giving > > HoldForm[Integrate[E^x*Sin[x], {x, 0, Pi}]] > > 1/2 (1 + \[ExponentialE]^\[Pi]) > > For exposition purposes we might want to keep the following expression in > the input order. > > \[Pi] Sin[x] \[ExponentialE]^x // HoldOp[Times] > % // ReleaseHold > giving > > HoldForm[Pi*Sin[x]*E^x] > > \[ExponentialE]^x \[Pi] Sin[x] > > Often we will have cases where some operation has automatic built-in rules, > such as linear and Leibnizian breakouts with differentiation. Again, for > exposition purposes, we might want to show the expression before these rules > are applied. > > g[x_] := x^2 > > D[a f[x] g[x], x] // HoldOp[D] > % // ReleaseHold giving > > HoldForm[D[a*E^x*x^2*Sin[x], x]] > > a \[ExponentialE]^x x^2 Cos[x] + 2 a \[ExponentialE]^x x Sin[x] + > a \[ExponentialE]^x x^2 Sin[x] > > -- > David Park > djmp... at comcast.nethttp://home.comcast.net/~djmpark/ Perhaps Defer is a kind of better-behaved Unevaluated: 1. That disappears even when not an argument to another function 2. And that terminates infinite evaluation immediately. ? Vince Virgilio
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- Re: What is the purpose of the Defer Command?
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- Re: What is the purpose of the Defer Command?
- From: Vince Virgilio <blueschi@gmail.com>
- Re: What is the purpose of the Defer Command?
- From: Vince Virgilio <blueschi@gmail.com>
- Re: Re: What is the purpose of the Defer Command?
- From: Andrzej Kozlowski <akoz@mimuw.edu.pl>
- Re: What is the purpose of the Defer Command?