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Re: Grouping similar indices together in an expression

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg65248] Re: Grouping similar indices together in an expression
  • From: Peter Pein <petsie at dordos.net>
  • Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 06:13:38 -0500 (EST)
  • References: <dvosko$j5k$1@smc.vnet.net>
  • Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

David Sanders schrieb:
> Hi,
> 
> I am a newbie in Mathematica, and am trying to do the following.
> 
> I have terms which look like
> a[i] a[j] b[i] b[j]
> 
> I need to apply a function F, for which I need to group the different
> indices (by which I mean i, j) together as follows:
> 
> F(a[i] a[j] b[i] b[j]) = F(a[i] b[i]) F(a[j] b[j])
> 
> I do not in general know how many different indices there might be in a
> term.  E.g. I might have
> a[i] a[j] a[k] b[j]
> 
> Could somebody please give me a hint as to how to do this?
> 
> Thanks,
> David.
> 

Hi David,

the function

combineCommonIndices[lst_,f_:Plus,g_:Times]:=Module[{hds=Union[Head/@lst]},
     g@@f@@@(Through[hds[#]]&/@
     (Intersection@@(Pick[First/@lst,lst,Blank[#]]&/@ hds)))]

works at least for these examples:

examples =
{{a[i],a[j],b[i],b[j]},
  {a[i],a[j],a[k],b[j]},
  {a[i],a[j],a[k],b[g],b[h],b[i],b[j]}};

combineCommonIndices[#, F] & /@ examples
-->
   {F[a[i],b[i]] F[a[j],b[j]],
    F[a[j],b[j]],
    F[a[i],b[i]] F[a[j],b[j]]}

and even the slightly confusing example

lst=Union@@Outer[#1[#2]&,#,#]&[{a,b,c}]
--> {a[a],a[b],a[c],b[a],b[b],b[c],c[a],c[b],c[c]}

combineCommonIndices[lst,F,List]
--> {F[a[a],b[a],c[a]], F[a[b],b[b],c[b]], F[a[c],b[c],c[c]]}

gives the expectes result.

Greetings,
   Peter

P.S.: If you've got a term t = a[i] a[j] b[i] b[j], then use
combineCommonIndices[List @@ t, F] or modify this function
according to your needs.


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