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Re: Problem with "Which"

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg122214] Re: Problem with "Which"
  • From: DrMajorBob <btreat1 at austin.rr.com>
  • Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2011 06:23:00 -0400 (EDT)
  • Delivered-to: l-mathgroup@mail-archive0.wolfram.com
  • References: <20111020222623.8AB2DE672D@smtp.hushmail.com>
  • Reply-to: drmajorbob at yahoo.com

Help has an example that helps explain it:

"Conditions are evaluated until one is found that is neither True nor  
False:

Which[1 < 0, a,
  x == 0, b,
  0 < 1, c]

Which[x == 0, b, 0 < 1, c]"

As you can see, the first condition -- and the value after it -- are  
stripped away.

That happens in your example too, and that seems to indicate that f2 > 0  
resolved to False.

The question is WHEN does it become False? Before /.ew is applied, or  
after?

Clear[KD]
KD[f0_] := Module[{f = f0, ew, f2},
   ew = Solve[D[f, x] == 0, x, Reals];
   f2 = D[f, {x, 2}];
   Print[f2, "\n", f2 > 0, "\n", Which[f2 > 0, "T",
     f2 < 0, "H",
     f2 == 0, "S"], "\n",
    {f2, f2 > 0, Which[f2 > 0, "T",
       f2 < 0, "H",
       f2 == 0, "S"],
      x, f} /. ew];]
KD[x^3 - 3 x^2]

-6+6 x
-6+6 x>0
Which[-6+6 x>0,T,f2$1576<0,H,f2$1576==0,S]
{{-6,False,Which[-6+6 x<0,H,f2$1576==0,S],0,0},{6,True,T,2,-4}}

As you see, f2 > 0 is neither True nor False before /.ew. After  
substitution it is False for x -> 0 and True for x -> 2.

But x is substituted ONLY ONCE, and that's why f2 < 0 and f2 == 0 are  
unevaluated.

The solution is to use ReplaceRepeated:

Clear[KD]
KD[f0_] := Module[{f = f0, ew, f2},
   ew = Solve[D[f, x] == 0, x, Reals];
   f2 = D[f, {x, 2}];
   Print[
    {Which[f2 > 0, "T",
       f2 < 0, "H",
       f2 == 0, "S"],
      x, f} //. ew];]
KD[x^3 - 3 x^2]

{{H,0,0},{T,2,-4}}

If has only one condition and has attribute HoldRest, not HoldAll like  
Which, so one replacement is enough.

And that's the difference.

Bobby

On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:26:23 -0500, <sb at 9y.com> wrote:

> Thank you for your help.
>
> I have corrected "f2==0", but that didn't change anything.
>
> I want to evaluate the which-statement with my ew. f2 is then {-
> 6,6} and this is correctly evaluated in the case, that the first
> condition of which is true: {T,2,-4}
>
> It gets only unevaluated in the second expression of which, when f2
> is -6.
>
> You meant: When x -> 0, all three conditions fail again, since f2 =
> 0 still resolves to 0, not True.
>
> When x->0, f2 gets -6 so the 2nd condition should be true.
>
> I don't understand, why the which expression is evaluated IF the
> first case is true but not evaluated when the 2nd case is true.
>
> When I change the order of the conditions "Which[f2 < 0, "H", f2 >
> 0, "T", f2 = 0, "S" ]..." than it is again ONLY correctly evaluated
> for the first condition...
>
> Hope you can see what is troubling me
>
>
>
> On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 22:32:47 +0200 DrMajorBob
> <btreat1 at austin.rr.com> wrote:
>> In your Which statement, when x has not yet been substituted,
>> neither f2 >
>> 0 nor f2 < 0 is True, so "f2 = 0" is reached.
>>
>> (You meant f2 == 0.)
>>
>> The value of f2 = 0 is zero, not True, so all three conditions
>> have failed
>> and Which remains unevaluated.
>>
>> The value of ew (which probably should have been a localized
>> Module
>> variable but isn't) is
>>
>> ew
>>
>> {{x -> 0}, {x -> 2}}
>>
>> When x -> 0, all three conditions fail again, since f2 = 0 still
>> resolves
>> to 0, not True.
>>
>> When x -> 2, the condition f2 > 0 is True, so Which[...] becomes
>> "T", and
>> that's what you're getting.
>>
>> In the If statement, f2 is still 0, having been set that way in
>> the Which
>> statement, so Which resolves to "T".
>>
>> The code did what you told it to do.
>>
>> Bobby
>>
>> On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 06:44:54 -0500, mbmb <sb at 9y.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Who can check my module?
>>>
>>> KD[f0_, a0_, b0_] := Module[{f = f0, a = a0, b = b0},
>>> f2 = D[f, {x, 2}];
>>> ew = Solve[D[f, x] == 0, x, Reals];
>>> Print["Extremwerte: ", {Which[f2 > 0, "T", f2 < 0, "H", f2 = 0,
>> "S" ],
>>> x, f} /. ew];
>>> Print["Extremwerte: ", {If[f2 > 0, "T", "H" ], x, f} /. ew];
>>> ]
>>>
>>> When I enter: KD[x^3 - 3 x^2, -1, 4] the output is
>>>
>>> Extremwerte: {{Which[-6+6 x<0,H,f2=0,S],0,0},{T,2,-4}}
>>>
>>> whereas the IF-line gives
>>>
>>> Extremwerte: {{H,0,0},{T,2,-4}}
>>>
>>> Why can't I use Which in this case. Why doesn't Mathematica
>> evaluate f2
>>> in all cases?
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> DrMajorBob at yahoo.com
>


-- 
DrMajorBob at yahoo.com



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