Replace
- To: mathgroup at yoda.physics.unc.edu
- Subject: Replace
- From: tuk at natazhat.uafphys.alaska.edu (John Pender)
- Date: Thu, 8 Oct 92 10:25:03 YDT
hi guys- i have an annoying little problem with the replace command (/.). the ultimate goal is to define a function which takes the complex conjugate of a symbolic expression by replacing I everywhere with -I. this assumes implicity that all of the variables in the expression (except for I itself) are real. the problem boils down to the fact that mma seems to treat I in a special way. in particular, watch this: Mathematica 2.1 for SPARC Copyright 1988-92 Wolfram Research, Inc. -- SunView graphics initialized -- In[1]:= v /. v->-v Out[1]= -v In[2]:= 5 v /. v->-v Out[2]= -5 v ********* no problem so far. In[3]:= I /. I->-I Out[3]= -I *********** still no problem In[4]:= 5 I /. I->-I Out[4]= 5 I ************* what the hell? the fact that mma won't make the substitution if there is anything in front of I in the expression of interest blows the whole deal. thanks in advance for any help. john pender tuk at natazhat.uafphys.alaska.edu