Re: (x - 1) or (-1 + x)
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg121537] Re: (x - 1) or (-1 + x)
- From: David Bailey <dave at removedbailey.co.uk>
- Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2011 08:27:42 -0400 (EDT)
- Delivered-to: l-mathgroup@mail-archive0.wolfram.com
- References: <j549eq$6c4$1@smc.vnet.net>
On 18/09/2011 09:17, Ralph Dratman wrote: > I feel like a small child asking this, but how can I get Mathematica to say > (x - 1) instead of (-1 + x), or to give me > > 4 (1 - q) > > instead of the doubly annoying > > -4 (-1 + q) ? > > In brief, given the choice, I prefer to look at subtraction rather than > negation. The binary operator instead of the unary. > > I'm not asking Mathematica to read my mind about the way I want every > possible expression to look, rather I am hoping to find out how to transform > something I don't like into something I like, in a way that is guaranteed > not to change the value of the expression. > > Ralph Dratman The general problem of forcing expressions to appear in a required form can be quite tricky, but using TraditionalForm will solve this case: In[105]:= x - 1 // TraditionalForm Out[105]//TraditionalForm= x-1 TraditionalForm tries to make maths look as though it came out of text book. David Bailey http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk