Re: Lists: Row Vectors vs. Column Vectors. (feels like such a silly
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg110275] Re: Lists: Row Vectors vs. Column Vectors. (feels like such a silly
- From: telefunkenvf14 <rgorka at gmail.com>
- Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2010 02:10:04 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <huqkkj$2ci$1@smc.vnet.net>
> Right. That is the point of MatrixForm. It puts a wrapper around > the list and causes it to *display* (look like) what you want. > But MatrixForm in no way makes the list a column or row vector. > > While I also prefer the appearance of matrices displayed by > MatrixForm, I never use MatrixForm. Instead, I have my > preferences set to display output cells in TraditionalForm. That > way, something that displays as a 5 x 1 array is a 5 x 1 array. Bill: I seem to recall reading (a few months ago) that you always displayed your output in traditional form---and I actually took your advice and tried it for a while. (Can't remember exactly why I switched back to StandardForm i/o only... probably something to do with copy/paste ambiguities.) Anyways, I suppose I would have stuck with it if there were a way to make *just* the matrix-related output display TraditionalForm. Man, I'm picky! :) (and I can't imagine that such a tweak would be easy.) Related (and NOT an attack on TraditionalForm i/o; just an observation I thought I'd share): This last semester I taught with Mathematica for the first time, and I'm a little mixed on the way that students are encouraged to use the input palettes and change their input/output to TraditionalForm (encouraged by WRI screencasts). I think this route caused more confusion/frustration than it was worth and slowed students' progress in learning to program and debug. -RG