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Re: Typesetting bug

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg96587] Re: [mg96405] Typesetting bug
  • From: Curtis Osterhoudt <cfo at lanl.gov>
  • Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:40:58 -0500 (EST)
  • Organization: LANL
  • References: <200902130840.DAA26500@smc.vnet.net>
  • Reply-to: cfo at lanl.gov

Agreed: probably a bug. However, on my system ["7.0 for Linux x86 (32-bit) (November 11, 2008)"] the two answers are the same.

              C.O.



On Friday 13 February 2009 01:40:38 am replicatorzed at gmail.com wrote:
> Dear Group,
> 
> I don't know whether this "feature" is widely known or not, but it
> surely gave me an hour of scratching my head, buried deep inside a
> calculation:
> 
> In[7]:= n = .5;
> x = 1;
> 
> ax = 1;
> {(ax^n), x^n, ax^n - x^n}
> 
> Out[10]= {1, 1, 0}
> 
> In[11]:= max = 1;
> {(max^n), x^n, max^n-x^n}
> 
> Out[12]= {1, 1, -1}
> 
> 
> This inconsistency happens only if exponents are typed in as real
> superscripts with Ctrl+^. A FullForm reveals an underlying Times in
> the last case, which ultimately is responsible for the wrong answer.
> Furthermore, max^n does not work as intended if typed and evaluated in
> one call, as follows:
> max <Ctrl+^> n <enter> x <Shift+Enter>
> because it is interpreted as a product of max^n and x.
> 
> Istvan Zachar
> 
> 
> 



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