For questions on writing functions (pure or using Set/SetDelayed) for any purpose, including the features that may be incorporated in those functions, such as options, patterns and conditions.

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34 views

Using anonymous functions instead of module or block. Bad idea? [duplicate]

Here is an example function which returns True if a point p is on an (open) line segment (A, B) assuming that Orientation[A, p, B] returns 0 if the three points are collinear: ...
3
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2answers
42 views

How to apply multiple/complicated requirements for a pattern in a function input

In this question. I suggested that to test whether the input of a function was a matrix of numbers one could create the following test: ...
0
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1answer
30 views

Have the kernel load a user-defined function by default [duplicate]

I wrote a very simple function that I would like to act as if it were one of the default functions that came with Mathematica, so that you don't have to load or import any package before you make use ...
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0answers
47 views

Question regarding function definition overloading / argument passing test [duplicate]

It is possible to define function dependently to passed argument type or condition this argument fulfills (somewhat like overloading): ...
21
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4answers
371 views

Why is there no PositionFunction in Mathematica?

Too often I have seen the programs of inexperienced users greatly slowed by using Position in an iterative fashion, when far faster would have been to compute a ...
1
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0answers
36 views

Unexpected error message from GraphPlot evaluation [closed]

(Running MMA 9 on Mac OSX 10.8.3, MacBook Pro, 16GB RAM) I am trying to display a graph with GraphPlot. I want a few of the edges to be purple, and the rest red. I figured out a way to do this that I ...
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0answers
11 views

How to assign values to a function at discrete points? [duplicate]

Suppose we are interested in a function f[x] that is defined only at discrete points: x = {1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1} We want to ...
5
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3answers
101 views

Applying a function with the HoldAll attribute inside NestList

I'm trying to write an update function, which can be applied to a list and then to NestList it. As the function has to manipulate the given variable I figured I ...
1
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2answers
143 views

Write a function that returns the logarithmic derivative

How can we write a function that if we input an expression f, it returns the log derivative $\frac{1}{f} \frac{df}{dx}$. We have to use a conditional or pattern test so that the function accepts any ...
24
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2answers
415 views

Variable naming changes everything

I am having a rather unusual problem I do not understand with Mathematica where renaming one of the variables of my function causes the function to stop "working". Here is the example of the code ...
3
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2answers
80 views

How to define a polynomial/function from an array of coefficients?

I have the coefficients of my desired polynomial in an array CoefArr (I'm new to mathematica, so I think of everything as arrays, it is actually a list I believe) starting with the constant at index ...
2
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2answers
66 views

Putting a matrix inside function

I want to fit a function to some data and inside the function there's a list here's my data ...
-1
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2answers
89 views

How can I define a function which is the sum of other functions?

I have a function which is summation of another function over different i,j iterators. U[r] = Sum[V[r, i, j], {i, 1, 5}, {j, 6, 10}] and ...
4
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3answers
131 views

How can I combine two Pick expressions into one?

I want to speed up my code, i.e., replace Select by Pick. I think using two Pick ...
1
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1answer
82 views
2
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3answers
100 views

Map several functions in one routine

I have several functions, let's assume they are: func1[x_]=x; func2[x_]=3*x-5; func3[x_]=0.1*x^2; and a lot more like these. For each and every one of these I ...
5
votes
4answers
233 views

Any rule of thumb for converting a simple mathematical expression into a pure function?

By simple mathematical expression I mean one with a few functions and few variables copied into MMA in a mechanical way from a math book. For example this one, giving the distance between two points ...
7
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4answers
270 views

How can I shorten this code to rotate a line segment around its center?

I have a list of line segments stored in the form: { {{x11,y11},{x12,y12}} , {{x21,y21},{x22,y22}} , ... , {{xn1,yn1},{xn2,yn2}} } Now I want to rotate all of ...
0
votes
2answers
149 views

Why function cannot be defined inside For loop? [closed]

I have a following code (which is simplified version of what I am doing): For[i = 1, i <= 5, i++, f[x_] := Sin[x]^2 Print[{i, f[i]}] ] And the question ...
0
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0answers
64 views

How can I get tabular output for the results of my simulation? [closed]

I have code that simulates a simple Markov Chain and looks like this: ...
3
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1answer
60 views

User-defined NormFunction in FindFit -

I would like to use a different Norm instead of a p-Norm in FindFit (Mathematica 9). For example, instead of using Sqrt[Sum[(x_model - x_data)^2]] I'd like to use Sum[x_model/x_data]. I can ...
2
votes
2answers
67 views

Rising Recursion Relationships

Lets say I want to compute the following function in mathematica: $G[n,k]=G[n+1,k-1] + G[n+2,k-2]$ where I know that $G[n,0]=n$ and $G[n,1]=n^2$. So, for example, $G[3,2]=G[4,1]+G[5,0]=4^2+5$ or, ...
0
votes
1answer
65 views

Function giving negative value when it should be positive [closed]

I am trying to evaluate $$\displaystyle J=A\sum_{k=0}^{n-2}(-1)^k{n-2 \choose k}B^{n-2-k}\left(\frac{C_1}{k+n}-\frac{C_2}{k+n+1}+\frac{C_3}{k+n+2}-\frac{2}{k+n+3}\right)$$ in Mathematica as a function ...
0
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2answers
136 views

Fast Autocorrelation Computation

I want to compute the Autocorrelation Function (ACF) of a data table with $10^6$ entries. I know that there is a built-in function in Mathematica for that, but because I do not know how exactly it is ...
9
votes
3answers
128 views

Pass by reference for an option argument

Pass by reference can be faked by using HoldAll or something similar in the definition of a "Function". But can pass by reference be faked for symbols passed as ...
3
votes
1answer
162 views

Stereographic Projection

Say I want to represent points of the complex plane in the sphere $\Bbb S^2$ using stereographic projection. That is, the Riemann sphere: Specifically, it would be nice to be able to: Given the ...
12
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1answer
128 views

How can I make threading more flexible?

Threading automatically with Listable functions requires the argument expressions to have the same length (or for one of them to be atomic). For nested lists the ...
1
vote
1answer
55 views

NMaxmize with a list of variables

I want to use NMaximize to find the maximum value of a function with multiple variables. The problem is I would like to set this up so the number of variables is only decided when the function sees ...
4
votes
2answers
74 views

Creating functions from output of other calculations

Apologies in advance if the title is vague, I'm not really sure what to call this. I have a function (call it 'foo') that generates a largeish polynomial, and it is natural to make the variables be ...
0
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0answers
47 views

Finding coefficients that make certain functional expression vanishing

My problem is to find a procedure that gives coefficients which make certain functional expression vanishing. For example if I have a polynomial $P(x)$ of one variable $x$ given by $P(x)=a_0+a_1 ...
27
votes
9answers
6k views

Generating a Sierpinski carpet

I am trying to draw a Sierpinski_carpet. I have code that works, but I think there is a more elegant way to do than my way. Maybe I couls use Tuples or ...
5
votes
2answers
246 views

Gram Schmidt Process for Polynomials

I want to implement the Gram Schimdt procedure to the vector space of polynomials of degree up to 5, i.e. I want to find an orthogonal basis from the set of vectors $v=(1,x,x^2,x^3,x^4,x^5)$. The ...
0
votes
1answer
76 views

Given a sequence of expressions, how can I convert them all into functions?

I have a sequence of expressions 1, x, x^2, ..., x^5 I want to define a sequence of functions out of it, what should I do? Namely I want to define a vector of ...
8
votes
4answers
135 views

How to pass a list of arguments into HoldAll

I have a list of arguments (which in reality is lengthy): arguments = {a, b, c} arguments2 = {a_, b_, c_} f[Sequence@@arguments2] := a + b + c Note: It seems ...
9
votes
2answers
152 views

How can I get the right hand side of a delayed expression?

Imagine there is a given function f, defined with SetDelayed, say f[x_] := Sin[x]^2 + Cos[x]^2. Is it possible to get rhs of ...
0
votes
1answer
196 views

How can I define a Step-Wise function in Mathematica (Not using Heaviside Step Function)? [closed]

I need to define a function, which has very different behaviour in different regions. There are about 13 different regions. A sample of my function is the foloowing table: I want to define it as a ...
4
votes
2answers
93 views

How to only work on sublists with non-zero (or positive) values

i have a large compositional dataset which contains non-zero and zero values. here is a sample: ...
-1
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1answer
66 views

Dynamically show a specific number of the fractional part's digits

What is the fastest way to cut off all n z digits of the fractional part of a real number? (For example 12390.20934230) I came up with this so far: ...
10
votes
3answers
396 views

What is Mathematica's equivalent to MATLAB's filter function?

The MATLAB code filter(0.5,[1, -0.5], [1:10]) is equivalent to Rest@FoldList[(#1 + #2)/2. &, 0, Range[10]] I don't ...
6
votes
1answer
64 views

Possible to scope an anonymous function within Module?

This is my first question. I'm fairly new to Mathematica and completely new to SE, so I apologize if this question is trivial. I'm working on a problem that requires a function to be redefined ...
2
votes
3answers
106 views

Defining a function to determine when convergence is guaranteed

I'm investigating how many iterations are needed for a particular orbit to reach a fixed point of a function. Since I have many functions to test, I want to define a function in Mathematica that will ...
2
votes
1answer
159 views

Why does the first derivative of a piecewise continuous function turns out with discontinuities?

I have this piecewise continuous function which is also continuously differentiable over time : ...
0
votes
1answer
74 views

Strange function definition result [duplicate]

I'm relatively new to Mathematica, and I'm trying to define a function f(k) that would do the following: For any positive integer $k$, a finite sequence $a_i$ of fractions $\frac{x_i}{y_i}$ is ...
2
votes
2answers
88 views
15
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4answers
240 views

Enforcing correct variable bindings and avoiding renamings for conflicting variables in nested scoping constructs

Using global variables the following turns an "expression" into a Function: expr = 2 x; Function[x, Evaluate[expr]] Of course ...
5
votes
1answer
128 views

How to find the name of the current function

I would like to know the name of the current function from within that function. For example, consider the following code ...
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0answers
73 views

How can I obtain the function described by given set of central moments?

I want to investigate how my function P behaves with different probability functions rho as input variables. This means ...
1
vote
1answer
102 views

Function definition and delayed assignment

I need to define the following function MyWavelet[n_]["PrimalLowpass", prec_ : MachinePrecision] := Table[(-1)^(j - 1) h[[2*n - j]], {j, 0, 2*n - 1}] which ...
4
votes
4answers
204 views

Differentiating space curves

I'm trying to do some very basic differential geometry of space curves. For example, a space curve $\gamma:\mathbb R\to\mathbb R^3$ has unit tangent and normal vectors given by ...
2
votes
4answers
280 views

How to write a differential operator in Mathematica

I have a very basic question. I am trying to code the LHS of the differential equation: ...

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