Re: Piecewise vs. /; ?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg104016] Re: Piecewise vs. /; ?
- From: Dan Dubin <ddubin at ucsd.edu>
- Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:19:33 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <hashpc$qu8$1@smc.vnet.net> <hav19a$4gr$1@smc.vnet.net>
Folks --
I would respectfully disagree with the idea that /; is more general
than Piecewise. The example given, a function that returns a
different value in the morning than the evening, is simply a
time-dependent function that could be constructed using Piecewise, as
in
f[x_,h_] = Piecewise[{{x, h < 12}, {-x, h >= 12}}];
and called via
f[x,DateList[[4]]]
In fact, it seems to me that any difference in the way that
Mathematica interprets Piecewise and conditionals should be removed
from later editions of Mathematica, since as far as I can see the
difference between them is merely a Mathematica-specific matter of
the mechanics of how the expressions are evaluated with little (or
no?) utility, that causes considerable confusion among new users. I
don't see any benefit in this distinction, but feel free to convince
me otherwise!
>Szabolcs Horv=E1t wrote:
>> In short, /; is a programming construct that affects evaluation.
>> Piecewise[] is used to represent a mathematical concept: piecewise
>> functions.
>>
>> If you want to do mathematical operations like integration, then use
>> Piecewise[]. Condition[] (/;) is a lot more general than Piecewise[],
>> for example one could write a "function" that returns a different value
>> in the evening than in the morning, which is obviously not a function in
>> the mathematical sense, and thus can't be integrated.
>
>Got it! Thanks to you and David for responding.
>
>--
>Erik Max Francis && max at alcyone.com && http://www.alcyone.com/max/
> San Jose, CA, USA && 37 18 N 121 57 W && AIM/Y!M/Skype erikmaxfrancis
> God is love, but get it in writing.
> -- Gypsy Rose Lee
--
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