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Re: (x - 1) or (-1 + x)

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg121537] Re: (x - 1) or (-1 + x)
• From: David Bailey <dave at removedbailey.co.uk>
• Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2011 08:27:42 -0400 (EDT)
• Delivered-to: l-mathgroup@mail-archive0.wolfram.com
• References: <j549eq$6c4$1@smc.vnet.net>

On 18/09/2011 09:17, Ralph Dratman wrote:
> I feel like a small child asking this, but how can I get Mathematica to say
> (x - 1) instead of  (-1 + x), or to give me
>
>   4 (1 - q)
>
>   instead of the doubly annoying
>
> -4 (-1 + q)  ?
>
> In brief, given the choice, I prefer to look at subtraction rather than
> negation. The binary operator instead of the unary.
>
> I'm not asking Mathematica to read my mind about the way I want every
> possible expression to look, rather I am hoping to find out how to transform
> something I don't like into something I like, in a way that is guaranteed
> not to change the value of the expression.
>
> Ralph Dratman
The general problem of forcing expressions to appear in a required form 
can be quite tricky, but using TraditionalForm will solve this case:

In[105]:= x - 1 // TraditionalForm

Out[105]//TraditionalForm= x-1

TraditionalForm tries to make maths look as though it came out of text book.

David Bailey
http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk