Re: Embed extra info?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg113669] Re: Embed extra info?
- From: Sam Takoy <sam.takoy at yahoo.com>
- Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2010 05:10:13 -0500 (EST)
- References: <iatt2m$egl$1@smc.vnet.net> <ib38va$f43$1@smc.vnet.net>
On 11/6/2010 6:00 AM, David Bailey wrote:
> On 04/11/10 09:06, Sam Takoy wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm writing code that implements tensor calculus. I'm sure it's been
>> done beautifully in MathTensor and other Mathematica packages, but I
>> would like to do it for myself to learn things along the way...
>>
>> Nontensorially speaking, a tensor is a multidimensional array but each
>> dimension is tagged as either upper or lower and certain operations on
>> the array are performed differently depending on the flavor. Is there a
>> way to embed extra info in a List of Lists so that if one does regular
>> things with the List, such as displaying it, the information does not
>> show up, but other operations can extract the extra info and use it?
>>
>> Many thanks in advance!
>>
>> Sam
>>
>
> The best way to do this, is to wrap the matrix in an extra layer
> together with the other information:
>
> myTensor[{{1,2},{3,4}},index info, etc....]
>
> Then overload an operator \[CircleTimes] to represent multiplication
> (you can't use Times because you need a non-commutative operator) and
> overload Times to represent scalar multiplication.
>
> To improve the appearance of the output, you can add MakeBoxes
> expressions to make myTensor objects display in whatever way you want.
>
> David Bailey
> http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk
>
Thank you very much for your great response!