Re: piecewise definition of a function
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg43888] Re: piecewise definition of a function
- From: bobhanlon at aol.com (Bob Hanlon)
- Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 03:05:56 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <bm2ub8$6s1$1@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
f[x_] := UnitStep[x]-UnitStep[x-1];
Plot[f[x], {x,-1,2}];
Integrate[f[x], {x,-50, 50}]
1
Bob Hanlon
In article <bm2ub8$6s1$1 at smc.vnet.net>, Nathan Moore <nmoore at physics.umn.edu>
wrote:
<< I'd like to define a function in a piecewise manner. As of yet I've
been unsuccessful with even the simplest example. Consider the
following:
first define a 1-d bump,
f[x_] = If[x < 0, 0,If[x > 1, 0, 1]]
Mathematica doesn't seem to mind this, as f[0.1] evaluates 1 and
f[-23] evaluates 0.
The problem comes when I try to integrate the function. The
following command which should evaluate to 1 doesn't work AT ALL!
Integrate[f[x], {x, -50, 50}]
What is the proper technique here?