Re: evaluate to True?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg125987] Re: evaluate to True?
- From: clhotka at fundp.ac.be
- Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:19:47 -0400 (EDT)
- Delivered-to: l-mathgroup@mail-archive0.wolfram.com
- References: <201204061001.GAA23045@smc.vnet.net>
Hello,
thank you for pointing out that MatchQ already exists (see also
[mg125948]). I am suprised
that after more than 8 years of "heavy" usage of Mathematica I did
never use this
function (directly).
In fact in most of my codes I prefer to use the construct
Not[FreeQ[#]]& instead
of MemberQ. It is interesting to note that it still has the same
drawback as MemberQ:
LiteralMemberQ[expr_, form_] := MemberQ[expr, Verbatim[form]]
myMemberQ[expr_, form_] := Not[FreeQ[expr, form]]
LiteralMemberQ[{0, 1, 2}, 2]
True
myMemberQ[{0, 1, 2}, 2]
True
LiteralMemberQ[{0, 1, 2}, expr_]
False
myMemberQ[{0, 1, 2}, expr_]
True
LiteralMemberQ[{0, 1, expr_}, expr_]
True
myMemberQ[{0, 1, expr_}, expr_]
True
As you can see the difference in the above examples is that
LiteralMemberQ[{0,1,2},expr_] returns False while
myMemberQ[{0,1,2},expr_] returns True.
I am still thinking that both functions should return neither True nor
False (see argumentation below) in this case. It took me some time to
design the following
function:
myMemberQ[expr_, form_] := Switch[Head[form],
Pattern,
If[Intersection[
Cases[expr, Verbatim[form], \[Infinity]], {form}] != {}, True,
Undefined],
_,
Not[FreeQ[expr, form]]]
The behaviour is now:
myMemberQ[{0, 1, 2}, 3]
False
myMemberQ[{0, 1, 2}, 2]
True
myMemberQ[{0, 1, 2}, expr_]
Undefined
myMemberQ[{0, 1, expr_}, expr_]
True
with the additional nice property that
myMemberQ[{0, 1, 2^expr_}, expr_]
True
LiteralMemberQ[{0, 1, 2^expr_}, expr_]
False
while
MemberQ[{0, 1, 2^expr_}, expr_]
returns
True
not because of expr_ in 2^expr_ but because every element of
{0,1,2^expr_} matches expr_.
Please let me know your opinion,
Christoph
Quoting Andrzej Kozlowski <akozlowski at gmail.com>:
> Of course there is already a function called "MatchQ". Second,
> MemberQ can actually be used for "literal" selection of the kind you
> seem to be thinking about.
>
> For example:
>
> MemberQ[{0, 1, 2}, expr_]
>
> True
>
> but
>
> MemberQ[{0, 1, 2}, Verbatim[expr_]]
>
> False
>
> MemberQ[{0, 1, expr_}, Verbatim[expr_]]
>
> True
>
> Thus we can define a "literal" membership checking function as follows:
>
> LiteralMemberQ[expr_, form_] := MemberQ[expr, Verbatim[form]]
>
> Now it behaves the way you expected:
>
> LiteralMemberQ[{0, 1, 2}, 2]
>
> True
>
> LiteralMemberQ[{0, 1, 2}, expr_]
>
> False
>
> and even:
>
> LiteralMemberQ[{0, 1, expr_}, expr_]
>
> True
>
> Andrzej Kozlowski
>
>
> On 7 Apr 2012, at 11:59, Christoph Lhotka wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> yes you are right, I mean MemberQ rather than ModuleQ (please see my
>> correction of the post [mg125913]).
>>
>> In fact the behaviour is consistent with the information you get for
>> MemberQ:
>>
>> In[1]:= ?MemberQ
>>
>> "MemberQ[list, form] returns True if an element of list matches form,
>> and False otherwise."
>>
>> In fact the function name is misleading (at least to me): form is never
>> a member of list if MemberQ
>> returns True. If this would be the case my argumentation (below,
>> original post) would bring the
>> behaviour of the function in troubles if form is the "expression for
>> everything".
>>
>> The misinterpretation of the function due to the name can be the cause
>> of severe bugs as seen
>> in message [mg125911]. Maybe a name like MatchQ would be more
>> appropriate for future versions
>> of Mathematica.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Christoph
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 04/06/2012 02:38 PM, Bob Hanlon wrote:
>>> You mean MemberQ rather than ModuleQ. In MemberQ[list, expr_] a blank
>>> (with or without a name for the blank) matches anything.
>>>
>>> {MemberQ[{a}, _],
>>> MemberQ[{"a"}, _],
>>> MemberQ[{Indeterminate}, _],
>>> MemberQ[{ComplexInfinity}, _],
>>> MemberQ[{Plot[x, {x, 0, 1}]}, _]}
>>>
>>> {True, True, True, True, True}
>>>
>>>
>>> Bob Hanlon
>>>
>>> On Fri, Apr 6, 2012 at 6:01 AM, Christoph Lhotka
>>> <christoph.lhotka at fundp.ac.be> wrote:
>>>> Hello,
>>>>
>>>> I found and interesting subject of discussion in the post
>>>>
>>>> "Bug in pattern test, or I did something wrong?"
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I could trace back the problem to an issue with ModuleQ.
>>>>
>>>> Question: Why does
>>>>
>>>> In[12]:= ModuleQ[{0,1,2},expr_]
>>>>
>>>> Out[12]:= True
>>>>
>>>> evaluate to True?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> My argumentation is as follows:
>>>>
>>>> On the one hand there could be a chance that expr_ is 0,1 or 2 but on
>>>> the other
>>>> hand the probability that expr_ is not 0,1 or 2 is even higher. As a
>>>> conclusion it should neither
>>>> evaluate to True nor to False.
>>>>
>>>> In other words: Is there any reason why the expression of everything
>>>> (named expr)
>>>> is contained in the set {0,1,2} ?
>>>>
>>>> Best,
>>>>
>>>> Christoph
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
- References:
- Why does ModuleQ[{0,1,2}, expr_] evaluate to True?
- From: Christoph Lhotka <christoph.lhotka@fundp.ac.be>
- Why does ModuleQ[{0,1,2}, expr_] evaluate to True?