Re: Functions
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg107803] Re: Functions
- From: Bill Rowe <readnews at sbcglobal.net>
- Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:08:14 -0500 (EST)
On 2/25/10 at 7:45 AM, matteo.diplomacy at gmail.com (Allamarein) wrote: >I want to define f[x_]=a x^2 and after g[a_,f_]= 2a+f so g is an "a" >"x" function and where "f" is the previous function. Giving to g a >value for "a" and "x", I'd get a correct "g" result. Which is it the >correct listed? There are several ways to achieve what you want. The smallest change to your code needed to obtain the desired result would be to define the functions as: f[x_]=a x^2; g[a_,x_}= 2 a + f[x]; But, usually (not always) it is better to use SetDelayed (:=) rather than Set (=) so that evaluate occurs when the function is used rather than when it is defined. That would be done as follows: f[x_]:= a x^2 g[a_, x_]= 2 a + f[x]; Note, I've used Set not SetDelayed in the definition of g. Since f is defined in terms of a single argument x, it is necessary to evaluate f[x] when defining g. Otherwise, f will not see the value of a provided to g. While the above works, I would do the following: f[x_, a_]:= a x^2 g[x_, a_]:= 2 a f[x, a] This causes evaluation to occur when g is evaluated and makes both f and g depend on arguments passed to them. Making functions depend on things not directly passed to them often causes unexpected results when the function is used elsewhere in a notebook. And this kind of problem can be difficult to find.