RE: RE: Absolute Value of Complex Numbers
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg35221] RE: [mg35207] RE: [mg35196] Absolute Value of Complex Numbers
- From: "DrBob" <majort at cox-internet.com>
- Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2002 05:13:18 -0400 (EDT)
- Reply-to: <drbob at bigfoot.com>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
The point is that ComplexExpand DOES assume k is a real number, while
Abs, Simplify, and FullSimplify do not.
You can cause Simplify to assume it, however:
Simplify[Abs[2 Exp[k*I]], {Element[k, Reals]}]
2
However, you shouldn't use any of these tricks unless "k is Real" is a
good assumption in your application. If not, Mathematica's original
answer is correct. (In fact, it's correct regardless.)
Bobby
-----Original Message-----
From: David Park [mailto:djmp at earthlink.net]
To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
Subject: [mg35221] [mg35207] RE: [mg35196] Absolute Value of Complex Numbers
Kyle,
You are assuming that k is a real number, but Mathematica doesn't assume
that. Use ComplexExpand to Simplify. (Perhaps they should have called it
ComplexSimplify.)
Abs[2 Exp[k*I]] // ComplexExpand
2
David Park
djmp at earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~djmp/
> From: Kyle Davis [mailto:kyledavis at nowhere.com]
To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
>
> Abs[2 Exp[3 * i]]
> answer = 2
>
> Abs[2 Exp[k * i]]
> answer = 2 Exp[-Im[k]]
>
> Isn't the second answer supposed to be the same with the first one,
> regardless with the value of k? How do I make the second
> calculation give me
> the right answer?
>
>