Plotting image of piecewise-defined transformation

I have a transformation $$T : [-1,1]^2 \to [-1,1]^2$$ that is piecewise defined in the following way: \begin{align*} T(x,y) &= \big(a(x-1)+1,\:\left(b-cx\right)(y-1)+1\big) \quad \textrm{if } y > 0, \\ T(x,y) &= \big(d(x+1)-1, \: \left(e-fx \right)(y+1)-1\big) \quad \textrm{if } y \leq 0 \end{align*} for parameters $$a,b,c,d,e,f \in \mathbb R$$. I want to use Mathematica to help me visualize what the images of this function look like under repeated iteration.

I defined my function in Mathematica like so:

a=5/12; b=17/12; c=1/4; d=1/3; e=5/3; f=-1/6;
T[x_,y_] := {Piecewise[{{a(x-1)+1, y>0}, {d(x+1)-1, y<=0}}],
Piecewise[{{(b-c*x)(y-1)+1, y>0}, {(e-f*x)(y+1)-1, y<=0}}]};


And then after writing T[0.4,0.1] and T[0.2, -0.4] to test the function, it returns as outputs {0.75, -0.185} and {-0.6, 0.02}. So this function appears to work.

Following in the footsteps of a (non-piecewise) example I was shown, I tried sketching the plot in the following way:

points=RandomReal[{-1,1},{5000,2}];
ListPlot[Map[T,points]]


which is written immediately below my lines in which I defined T[x_,y_]. I’m getting a sequence error message that all say:

Piecewise: The first argument {{-0.643301, False}, {0.422474}} of Piecewise is not a list of pairs.


with the numbers different between each error message. I wasn’t getting this error when I just directly evaluated T[x,y], only when I tried plotting it/evaluating a set of data.

As an experiment, I tried running the following script:

a=5/12; b=17/12; c=1/4; d=1/3; e=5/3; f=-1/6;
T[x_,y_] := {Piecewise[{{a(x-1)+1, y>0}, {d(x+1)-1, y<=0}}],
Piecewise[{{(b-c*x)(y-1)+1, y>0}, {(e-f*x)(y+1)-1, y<=0}}]};
F[x_,y_] := (e-f*x)(y+1)-1; (*the y-coordinate function for T when y<=0*)
points = {{0.4, 0.1}};
T[0.4, 0.1]
F[0.4, 0.1]
List[Map[T, points]]


This results in the following outputs and error message, in the following order:

Out[196]= {0.75, -0.185}
Out[197]= 0.906667

Piecewise: The first argument {{-0.185, True}, {0.906667}} of Piecewise is not a list of pairs.

Out[198[= {{{0.75, Piecewise[{{(b-c0.4)(0.1-1)+1, 0.1>0}, {(e-f0.4)(0.1+1)-1}}]}}}


So it appears that the problem is with the second Piecewise used in defining T[x_,y_]. It looks like it’s completely ignoring the , y<=0 piece of it. Anyone have an idea of what’s going on here and how I can fix this?

• It might simplify things a lot for you to define T so that it acts directly on points, e.g. T[{x_, y_}] := (* your original definition *). That should let you avoid Apply[], and also help with your follow-up question. Jan 28 at 2:36

Map[Apply[T],points]