Re: Abs and variables
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg4297] Re: Abs and variables
- From: Mark Evans <evans at gte.net>
- Date: Sat, 29 Jun 1996 03:56:36 -0400
- Organization: GTE Intelligent Network Services, GTE INS
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Perrin wrote: > > How can I have the Abs function treat real variables properly? > I seem to recall a way of declaring a variable real, but I don't > remember how. If there is such a way, would this work with Abs; i.e. > fix the variable a so that "Abs[a]" will give a result of "a"? > > Thanks. > > / > :@-) Scott > \ I have always bemoaned Mathematica's deficiency with respect to symbolic real variables. WRI has vaguely promised some improvements in this area. I'm sure they will do a better job next time around. Mathematica is just not very good at simplifying symbolic expressions involving symbolic reals. The kernel always assumes that symbols could be complex even though in many cases they cannot. The particular simplification you cite, however, is not quite valid in any case, because "a" can be positive or negative even if it is real. If a < 0, then Abs[a] != a. In this case I would not want the simplification you cite to take effect. There is a package called "ReIm.m" which lets you declare symbols to be pure reals, but I have not found it very helpful. One never seems to get the straightforward simplifications that one would expect in reasonable amounts of time. There is also the ComplexExpand[] function. This is the most helpful function I have found in this regard. Read the manual about its usage. When you wrap an expression with ComplexExpand[], the symbols in the expression are assumed real unless you specifically state otherwise in the argument list to the function. Mark Evans evans at gte.net ==== [MESSAGE SEPARATOR] ====