Bug in interpretation of mma Series[] command?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg2231] Bug in interpretation of mma Series[] command?
- From: siegman at ee.stanford.edu (A. E. Siegman)
- Date: Wed, 18 Oct 1995 01:52:42 -0400
- Organization: Stanford University
Does the following make sense to anyone? In[6]:= f[y] = Exp[-a y^2] * Series[1/(1 + y^2), {y,0,5}] Out[6]= 2 2 a 4 6 1 + (-1 - a) y + (1 + a + --) y + O[y] 2 This strikes me as a really counter-intuitive, perverse, guaranteed-to-cause-trouble "gotcha". I have to agree that In[7]:= f[y] = Exp[-a y^2] * Normal[Series[1/(1 + y^2), {y,0,5}]] Out[7]= 2 4 1 - y + y ----------- 2 a y E does what's expected; but the first case should surely either generate an error msg, or not be interpreted at all. There's no way any sensible interpretation of the input command (by normal users, that is) should lead to series expansion of the Exp[] function also.