Re: f + g
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg7574] Re: [mg7120] f + g
- From: "C. Woll" <carlw at u.washington.edu>
- Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 16:33:05 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
On Sun, 11 May 1997, Murray Eisenberg wrote: > In mathematics, we define the sum f + g of two arbitrary real-valued > functions f and g (with the same domain) by the rule (f + g)(x) = f(x) > + g(x), so that, for example, (cos + exp)(0) = 2. Similarly, for a > constant c and an arbitrary function f we define the product cf by the > rule (cf)(x) = c (f(x)). [Generalizations to other kinds of values > and to other operations, such as the product of two functions, are > possible but not of interest to me in this question.) > > My question is: is there some way directly to express this in > Mathematica (3.0)? That is, I would like to input > > (Cos + Exp)[0] > > and get result 2 -- WITHOUT having to give first a specific rule for > the sum of that particular pair of functions. The sort of thing I > have in mind is a general rule such as > > (f_ + g_)[x_] := f[x] + g[x] > > but that certainly won't be acceptable to Mathematica (Tag Plus is > Protected!) > > The only thing I could come up with was: > > Unprotect[Plus] > (f_ + g_)[x_] := f[x] + g[x] > Protect[Plus] > > But I find that most unsatisfactory: it seems to me that such a basic, > common operation in mathematics ought to be directly accessible in "a > software system for doing mathematics"! > > ... Hi Murray, Since this message is now old, I don't know if you're interested in it anymore, but how about this approach, sort of combining your approach with Through as suggested by Steve Luttrell. Thus, CirclePlus[f__]:=Through[(Plus[f])[##]]& Now, you can define a new function h in terms of other functions f and g as h := f :c+: g where :c+: is the alias for the infix form of CirclePlus. This method works for both pure functions and regular functions. Carl