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From this answer https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/a/9773/68791 and according to the documentation:

FreeQ[list,form] test whether form occurs nowhere in list

However, I encountered some oddities:

expr = x[0] + (-(1/2) - (I*Sqrt[3])/2)*x[1] + (-(1/2) + (I*Sqrt[3])/2)*x[2];
FreeQ[expr, I]
(* True -- I *is not* in expr whereas it obviously is *)

FreeQ[expr, I/2]
(* False -- I/2 *is* in expr *)

By using TreeForm it seems to me than I/2 is handled as an atom, and not as a compound expression Div[I,2].

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How can I reliably test if $\large ⅈ$ (or any complex with a non-zero imaginary part) is in an expression?

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  • $\begingroup$ How would one treat things like ArcSin[2]? I assume it should be flagged as a nonreal, complex number. $\endgroup$ – Michael E2 Dec 13 '19 at 4:38
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Look at the FullForm. This is what Mathematica actually sees.

expr // FullForm

Plus[x[0], 
 Times[Plus[Rational[-1, 2], 
   Times[Complex[0, Rational[-1, 2]], Power[3, Rational[1, 2]]]], x[1]], 
 Times[Plus[Rational[-1, 2], 
   Times[Complex[0, Rational[1, 2]], Power[3, Rational[1, 2]]]], x[2]]
 ]

I/2 // FullForm

Complex[0,Rational[1,2]]

I is really Complex[0, 1] so Mathematica searches for that specifically. If you just want to find a Complex number use FreeQ[_Complex]

If you have to deal with the corner cases where the expression may contain Complex[_, 0.] or Complex[_, 0], you should use FreeQ[Complex[_, n_?(#==0.&)]]

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  • $\begingroup$ Isn't there some corner cases where an expression would contain Complex[ _, 0]? $\endgroup$ – Sylvain Leroux Dec 13 '19 at 2:12
  • $\begingroup$ @SylvainLeroux that can't happen unless stuff is held, but Complex[1, 0.] can. On the other hand, you can catch that with FreeQ[Complex[_, n_?(#==0.&)]]. The bigger point is that you need to think about true form of an expression when pattern matching, not the one you see displayed. $\endgroup$ – b3m2a1 Dec 13 '19 at 2:14
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    $\begingroup$ It could happen if in Complex[x, 0], x is not a number. E.g. Complex[Sqrt[2], 0]. These forms do not arise from normal arithmetic/algebraic computations done by Mathematica, however. They would have be the result of some explicit construction of a Complex expression (by the user). $\endgroup$ – Michael E2 Dec 13 '19 at 2:17
  • $\begingroup$ @MichaelE2 interesting! Didn't realize that would happen $\endgroup$ – b3m2a1 Dec 13 '19 at 2:19
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    $\begingroup$ @SylvainLeroux 0==0. but 0=!=0. $\endgroup$ – b3m2a1 Dec 13 '19 at 2:27

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