Re: Are these bugs fixed in Mathematica 8 ?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg114571] Re: Are these bugs fixed in Mathematica 8 ?
- From: Murray Eisenberg <murray at math.umass.edu>
- Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2010 06:40:48 -0500 (EST)
Mathematica 8.0.0 results shown below.
On 12/7/2010 6:47 AM, Ted Ersek wrote:
>
> Below are some bugs in Mathematica 7 that I reported to Wolfram Research
> tech-support,
> and I was wondering if they are fixed in version 8.
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
> In[1]:= SetOptions[ FourierTransform, FourierParameters->{1,1} ];
> x[t_,a_,b_] :=
> ((t+a/2)*UnitStep[t+a/2]-(t-a/2)*UnitStep[t-a/2])*b/(2*a);
> Plot[ x[t,20,24], {t,-12,12} ]
>
> (* Graphic not shown *)
>
>
> In[4]:= FullSimplify[ FourierTransform[x[t,a,b],t,w], And[ 0<a, 0<b,
> Element[w,Reals]] ]
>
> Out[4]= ((I/2)*b*E^((I/2)*a*w))/w
(* Mathematica 8 *)
(b*Pi*DiracDelta[w])/2 + (I*b*Sin[(a*w)/2])/(a*w^2)
>
>
> It seems to me the previous result should be
> 2*I*b/(a*w^2)*Sin[a*w/2]+ Pi*b*DiracDelta[w]
>
> Notice the above setting for FourierParameters.
>
> (* -------------------------------------------------- *)
>
> In[5]:= Off[General::ovfl,General::unfl];
> SlightlyNegative= -$MinNumber/10;
> VeryNegative= -10*$MaxNumber;
> BigComplex=($MaxNumber (-0.664-0.747 I))^4;
> {SlightlyNegative,VeryNegative,BigComplex}
>
> Out[9]= {Underflow[], Overflow[], Overflow[]}
>
>
> I agree that the results above lead to underflow and overflow.
> However, I was surprised by the result of the next two cells.
> Although the next two output cells are mostly by design since the
> documentation for Overflow says
> "Overflow[] is considered a Real number." The documentation for Underflow
> is similar.
>
>
> In[10]:= {Head[SlightlyNegative], Head[VeryNegative], Head[BigComplex]}
>
> Out[10]= {Real , Real , Real}
>
(* Mathematica 8: same result *)
>
>
> In[11]:= { NumericQ[SlightlyNegative], NumberQ[SlightlyNegative],
> NumericQ[VeryNegative], NumberQ[VeryNegative] }
>
> Out[11]= {True, True, True, True}
(* Mathematica 8: same result *)
>
> Mathematica 7 represents any overflow as Overflow[], and any underflow as
> Underflow[].
> As a result any information on the sign[_], and Arg[_] of such a results are
> lost.
> The documentation doesn't mention that some built-in functions consider any
> overflow
> or underflow a positive real number :-(
> This leads to incorrect results below.
>
>
> In[12]:= {Sign[VeryNegative], Sign[SlightlyNegative], Sign[BigComplex]}
>
> Out[12]= {1, 1, 1 }
>
(* Mathematica 8 * )
{1, 0, 1}
>
>
> In[13]: Map[0<#&, {SlightlyNegative, VeryNegative, BigComplex} ]
>
> Out[13]= {True, True, True}
(* Mathematica 8: same result *)
>
> In[14]:= Element[BigComplex, Reals]
>
> Out[14]= True
>
(* Mathematica 8: same result *)
>
> In[15]:= Im[BigComplex]
>
> Out[15]= 0
>
(* Mathematica 8: same result *)
>
> In[16]:= VeryNegative + Exp[5.0*^323228465]
>
> Out[16]= Overflow[]
>
(* Mathematica 8: same result *)
>
> In the previous line we are computing Overflow[] + Overflow[].
> Even if Mathematica would keep track of the sign of an overflow, it would
> not
> know which has larger magnitude, so the result should be Indeterminate.
>
>
> The next result is most outrageous because Exp[1.5*^-323228465] is very
> close to 1.
>
>
> In[16]:= 10^80000< Exp[1.5*^-323228465]
>
> Out[16]= True
(* Mathematica 8: same result *)
Note also:
Exp[1.5*^-323228465]
Overflow[]
--
Murray Eisenberg murray at math.umass.edu
Mathematics & Statistics Dept.
Lederle Graduate Research Tower phone 413 549-1020 (H)
University of Massachusetts 413 545-2859 (W)
710 North Pleasant Street fax 413 545-1801
Amherst, MA 01003-9305