Re: tag Times protected??
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg13460] Re: [mg13419] tag Times protected??
- From: "Jurgen Tischer" <jtischer at col2.telecom.com.co>
- Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 01:45:45 -0400
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Hi Jordan, you could write your assignments into different cells, or you could write { pe[j] , ph[j] , peh[j] }= { pate[[1]] , path[[1]] , pateh[[1]] } The explanation why all this happens: Mathematica allows chains of assignments like x=y=0, and multiple line commands. I think both is nice, but of course your input interpreted this way contains an assignment to pate[[1]] ph[[j]], say, which is indeed of the form Times[...]. So the message. If you separate with ; you use still another possibility: a compound statement. So there is no assignment to Times, voila. Jurgen -----Original Message----- From: Jordan Milev <jgmilev at amherst.edu> To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net Subject: [mg13460] [mg13419] tag Times protected?? >I am writing with an annoying behavior in Mathematica, which I hope has >a logical explanation. I have found that sometimes when I write two >consecutive lines which display output, I get the message "tag Times >protected" > >Say I write: > >pe[j] = pate[[1]] >ph[j] = path[[1]] >peh[j] = pateh[[1]] > >where pate, path, and pateh are lists. So this is merely an assignment >exercise, but Mathematica somehow thinks that I've written instead: > >pe[j] = pate[[1]]ph[j] = path[[1]]peh[j] = pateh[[1]] > >i.e. I'm trying to multiply the three. Of course, this is an error, so >Mathematica gives a warning message. But, if I write the same >expression as: > >pe[j] = pate[[1]]; >ph[j] = path[[1]]; >peh[j] = pateh[[1]]; > >the problem disappears, and Mathematica doesn't want to multiply the >three. > >Does anyone know why this is happening, or more importantly, how to >prevent this behavior? I'd appreciate any help. > >Jordan > >