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Re: Lists: Row Vectors vs. Column Vectors. (feels like such a silly

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg110275] Re: Lists: Row Vectors vs. Column Vectors. (feels like such a silly
• From: telefunkenvf14 <rgorka at gmail.com>
• Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2010 02:10:04 -0400 (EDT)
• References: <huqkkj$2ci$1@smc.vnet.net>

> Right. That is the point of MatrixForm. It puts a wrapper around
> the list and causes it to *display*  (look like) what you want.
> But MatrixForm in no way makes the list a column or row vector.
>
> While I also prefer the appearance of matrices displayed by
> MatrixForm, I never use MatrixForm. Instead, I have my
> preferences set to display output cells in TraditionalForm. That
> way, something that displays as a 5 x 1 array is a 5 x 1 array.

Bill:

I seem to recall reading (a few months ago) that you always displayed
your output in traditional form---and I actually took your advice and
tried it for a while. (Can't remember exactly why I switched back to
StandardForm i/o only... probably something to do with copy/paste
ambiguities.)

Anyways, I suppose I would have stuck with it if there were a way to
make *just* the matrix-related output display TraditionalForm. Man,
I'm picky! :)  (and I can't imagine that such a tweak would be easy.)

Related (and NOT an attack on TraditionalForm i/o; just an observation
I thought I'd share): This last semester I taught with Mathematica for the
first time, and I'm a little mixed on the way that students are
encouraged to use the input palettes and change their input/output to
TraditionalForm (encouraged by WRI screencasts). I think this route
caused more confusion/frustration than it was worth and slowed
students' progress in learning to program and debug.

-RG