Re: Very very basic question about Mathematica expressions
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg111212] Re: Very very basic question about Mathematica expressions
- From: magma <maderri2 at gmail.com>
- Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:15:11 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <i23k1j$epv$1@smc.vnet.net> <i26kq8$9c8$1@smc.vnet.net>
> My question is much more formal: What are the building blocks of > Mathematica, the formal language. When you say > > s = x+h > > what is s? It is an expression. EVERYTHING is an expression in Mathematica. You should have read it somewhere by now, if you have been working with Mathematica for months, as you say. Please note: the whole thing is an expression. It is coded internally as Set[s,Plus[x,h]] The s,x,and h are Symbols, not strings. "Function" is a reserved word in Mathematica, while "function" is a "reserved" word in mathematics. If you want to code functions in Mathematica you can use s[x_]:=x+h or s[x_,h_]:=x+h or even s:=x+h but certainly NOT s=x+h because this last one is an immediate assignment. Check this link in the help file guide/Assignments But above all I would recommend you download and read carefully: http://reference.wolfram.com/legacy/v5_2/ Never mind it is not the latest version. Look up Set, SetDelayed and Plot in the PDF, but read the whole book, if you want the fog to dissipate and sun shine again.