Question re I->-I
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg106508] Question re I->-I
- From: AES <siegman at stanford.edu>
- Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 03:16:48 -0500 (EST)
- Organization: Stanford University
The extended discussion of I->-I (call this the "iRule") seems to arise
because
* One can write two simple expressions, call them expr1 and expr2,
containing numbers, symbols (in the Mathematica sense), and the symbol
I, that anyone with an elementary knowledge of algebra would (and
should) consider to be exactly equivalent (multiple examples have been
given).
* But if one in fact types each of these expressions into a virgin
Mathematica notebook and kernel and applies the iRule, e.g. in the form
of three cells containing
iRule = {I -> -I};
expr1 /. iRule
expr2 /. iRule
one gets two totally different answers from the two expressions. This
bothers people (me, anyway).
Question (asked for learning purposes): Does this happen, at this level
of simplicity, with _any_ other valid Mathematica symbols?
More specifically:
* Take any of the pairs of expressions that "fail" in the above manner;
type them into cells, except replace (by hand!) all the free-standing
instances of I with any arbitrarily chosen valid Mathematica symbol,
call it "s" (s can be x, or xx, or Pi, or E).
* Do the same as above on these modified expressions except apply the
"sRule" {s -> -s}.
Is there any such symbol s that will produce different results for the
two expressions?
Alternative question:
* Type in a rational polynomial in a simple variable "s" (format it any
way you like), and apply this sRule. Is there any way you can reformat
this rational polynomial, without changing its meaning, so as to get
different results when the sRule is applied?