Re: Picking Off Lists That Have No Numbers
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg99539] Re: [mg99471] Picking Off Lists That Have No Numbers
- From: DrMajorBob <btreat1 at austin.rr.com>
- Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 06:38:02 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <200905060925.FAA01807@smc.vnet.net>
- Reply-to: drmajorbob at bigfoot.com
Or in one statement:
mixed = {"NA", 2.3, 3/8, "NA", "NA", "NA"};
{first, last} = Select[mixed, NumericQ][[{1, -1}]]
{2.3, 3/8}
Bobby
On Wed, 06 May 2009 15:56:59 -0500, Gregory Lypny
<gregory.lypny at videotron.ca> wrote:
> Thanks Bobby,
>
> It's crystal now or almost so. Painful yet kind of fun getting there.
> For example, I came up with this way to identify the location of the
> first and last numerical elements in a mixed list of strings and numbers.
>
> Regards,
>
> G.
>
> posOfFirstNumericalObs = First[Position[myMixedList, _?NumericQ]][[1]]
>
> posOfLastNumericalObs = Last[Position[myMixedList, _?NumericQ]][[1]]
>
>
> On Wed, May 6, 2009, at 4:46 PM, DrMajorBob wrote:
>
>> All the "wrong" answers are caused by bad syntax or arguments.
>>
>> FreeQ[#, _Number] & /@ {{"NA", 2.3, 3/8}, {"NA", "NA", "NA"}}
>>
>> and
>>
>> MemberQ[#, _Number] & /@ {{"NA", 2.3, 3/8}, {"NA", "NA", "NA"}}
>>
>> both fail because Number is not the Head for numbers:
>>
>> Map[Head, {{"NA", 2.3, 3/8}, {"NA", "NA", "NA"}}, {2}]
>>
>> {{String, Real, Rational}, {String, String, String}}
>>
>> Head /@ {2.3, 2/3, 1 + I, Pi}
>>
>> {Real, Rational, Complex, Symbol}
>>
>> so _Number doesn't match any of the elements.
>>
>> What you need instead is something like
>>
>> FreeQ[#, _?NumericQ] & /@ {{"NA", 2.3, 3/8}, {"NA", "NA", "NA"}}
>>
>> {False, True}
>>
>> NumericQ /@ {2.3, 2/3, 1 + I, Pi}
>>
>> {True, True, True, True}
>>
>> All the other problems are similar.
>>
>> Bobby
>>
>> On Wed, 06 May 2009 04:25:48 -0500, Gregory Lypny
>> <gregory.lypny at videotron.ca> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi everyone,
>>>
>>> In a previous thread, "Select and Cases Give Different Answers," I
>>> discussed a bug, confirmed by others on the list and which Daniel
>>> Lichtblau of Wolfram said has been fixed in the development kernel,
>>> and I wonder whether we have the same problem here.
>>>
>>> I want to know if a list has no numbers in it. Here I get the wrong
>>> answer for the first list.
>>>
>>> FreeQ[#, _Number] & /@ {{"NA", 2.3, 3/8}, {"NA", "NA", "NA"}}
>>>
>>> yields {True, True}
>>> And same here.
>>>
>>> MemberQ[#, _Number] & /@ {{"NA", 2.3, 3/8}, {"NA", "NA", "NA"}}
>>>
>>> {False, False}
>>>
>>> If I use Real or Rational for the criterion, I get the right answers,
>>> but that's no good if you have some lists that are mixtures of strings
>>> and reals and others that are mixtures of strings and rationals.
>>>
>>> FreeQ[#, _Real] && FreeQ[#, _Rational]
>>> & /@ {{"NA", 2.3, 3/8}, {"NA", "NA", "NA"}, {"NA", 2.3, "NA"}, {"NA",
>>> 2.3, 9.4}}
>>>
>>> Now this works.
>>>
>>> Count[#, _String] == Length[#] & /@ {{"NA", 2.3, 3/8}, {"NA", "NA",
>>> "NA"}}
>>>
>>> {False, True}
>>>
>>> But this does not!
>>>
>>> Count[#, _Number] == 0 & /@ {{"NA", 2.3, 3/8}, {"NA", "NA", "NA"}}
>>>
>>> {True, True}
>>>
>>> I don't mean to be a pain, but it is important in my sample selection
>>> procedures to be able to make the distinction between strings and
>>> numbers, so I'd be interested in knowing whether I'm misunderstanding
>>> properties such as Number or Numeric (don't really know the
>>> difference) or this is a bug.
>>>
>>>
>>> Gregory
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --DrMajorBob at bigfoot.com
>
--
DrMajorBob at bigfoot.com
- References:
- Picking Off Lists That Have No Numbers
- From: Gregory Lypny <gregory.lypny@videotron.ca>
- Picking Off Lists That Have No Numbers