Re: BinaryWrite and Position in Mathematica 6
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg83319] Re: BinaryWrite and Position in Mathematica 6
- From: Jean-Marc Gulliet <jeanmarc.gulliet at gmail.com>
- Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2007 05:27:13 -0500 (EST)
- Organization: The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
- References: <fhjr8v$4ce$1@smc.vnet.net>
L. Dwynn Lafleur wrote: > I do not understand the following results from Mathematica 6.0.1.0 running > in Windows XP (SP2): > > In[1]:= a={{2}} > Out[1]= {{2}} > > In[2]:= b=Position[{x,y,z},y] > Out[2]= {{2}} > > In[3]:= a==b > Out[3]= True > > >>From the above results, we see that although they produced differently, a > and b are apparently identical. Now I attempt to write each to a file using > BinaryWrite: > > In[4]:= BinaryWrite["aFile.dat",a,"Integer32"] > Out[4]= aFile.dat > > In[5]:= BinaryWrite["bFile.txt",b,"Integer32"] > During evaluation of In[5]:= BinaryWrite::nocoerce: {2} cannot be > coerced to the specified format. >> > Out[5]= $Failed > > BinaryWrite writes a successfully, but fails on b. However, consider the > following: > > In[6]:= BinaryWrite["bFile2.txt",ToExpression[b],"Integer32"] > Out[6]= bFile2.txt > > Why do I need to convert b before writing it to a file? I thought that > "a==b -> True" indicates a and b are identical and therefore should be > treated in the same way by Mathematica. What am I overlooking? Very puzzling, indeed. First, I thought that you might have a problem with your environment. However, I did reproduce the same behaviors without any difficulty on my system. Then, ... Even SameQ (triple equal sign ===), which is a stronger test than Equal (double equal sing ==), cannot find any difference. Comparing the full form of each expression just reinforces the feeling that there exists no difference. And I fail to see what ToExpression can possibly change (and so does Mathematica, except BinaryWrite of course!). I hope someone else will be able to shed some light. In[1]:= a = {{2}} Out[1]= {{2}} In[2]:= b = Position[{x, y, z}, y] Out[2]= {{2}} In[3]:= a == b Out[3]= True In[4]:= a === b Out[4]= True In[5]:= FullForm[a] Out[5]//FullForm= \!\(\* TagBox[ StyleBox[ RowBox[{"List", "[", RowBox[{"List", "[", "2", "]"}], "]"}], ShowSpecialCharacters->False, ShowStringCharacters->True, NumberMarks->True], FullForm]\) In[6]:= FullForm[b] Out[6]//FullForm= \!\(\* TagBox[ StyleBox[ RowBox[{"List", "[", RowBox[{"List", "[", "2", "]"}], "]"}], ShowSpecialCharacters->False, ShowStringCharacters->True, NumberMarks->True], FullForm]\) In[7]:= OwnValues[a] Out[7]= {HoldPattern[a] :> {{2}}} In[8]:= OwnValues[b] Out[8]= {HoldPattern[b] :> {{2}}} In[9]:= ToExpression[b] Out[9]= {{2}} In[10]:= b === ToExpression[b] Out[10]= True In[11]:= BinaryWrite["aFile.dat", a, "Integer32"] Out[11]= "aFile.dat" In[12]:= BinaryWrite["bFile.dat", b, "Integer32"] During evaluation of In[12]:= BinaryWrite::nocoerce: {2} cannot be \ coerced to the specified format. >> Out[12]= $Failed In[13]:= BinaryWrite["bFile2.txt", ToExpression[b], "Integer32"] Out[13]= "bFile2.txt" In[14]:= $Version Out[14]= "6.0 for Microsoft Windows (32-bit) (June 19, 2007)" Regards, -- Jean-Marc