Some function like Position[] but uses criteria, not pattern?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg99389] Some function like Position[] but uses criteria, not pattern?
- From: "Nasser Abbasi" <nma at 12000.org>
- Date: Tue, 5 May 2009 05:37:22 -0400 (EDT)
- Reply-to: "Nasser Abbasi" <nma at 12000.org>
V 7.0
Position[] works by returning position of elements which matches a pattern.
This is all good and well.
But sometimes, I need to find the positions (i.e index) of elements that
matches a criteria, not a pattern.
For example, using pattern
a = {1, 0, 4, -5, 8}
Position[a, 0]
Out[15]= {{2}}
But what if I wanted the position of the elements which, say, are larger
than 3? this is not a pttern, but a criteria. Which in this example should
find elements which are in position 3 and 5 in list 'a' above.
I can't type
Position[a, #1 > 3 & ]
Now, Select[] does take a criteria, good, so I could type
Select[a, #1 > 3 & ]
{4, 8}
But I wanted the positions of the elements, not the elements themselves.
I could use Select to find the elements, then use Position to find the
position of these elements as follows
c = Select[a, #1 > 3 & ];
Flatten[(Position[a, #1] & ) /@ c]
Out[65]= {3, 5}
But I think this is bit messy. I think Position[] or new function similar,
should have an option to return position of elements based on criteria, not
just pattern. The above gets more messy for me, when I wanted to find
position of elements in a matrix based on some criteria.
For example, find the position (i.e. row and column) index in a matrix (list
of lists) of those elements which matches some criteria. Say >3.
thanks,
--Nasser
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