POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.off-topic : Iterated derivatives : Re: Iterated derivatives Server Time
5 Sep 2024 05:23:37 EDT (-0400)
  Re: Iterated derivatives  
From: Invisible
Date: 16 Nov 2009 11:20:35
Message: <4b017bd3$1@news.povray.org>
>> FAIL.
> 
> Yes. I didn't see there were 50 responses before I posted that. :-)
> 
>> http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=derivative+of+f[f[x]]
> 
> Apparently so. One of the reasons I hate mathematical notation.

Wolfram at least have come up with a consistent, non-ambiguous notation. 
In their notation, a(b)c unambiguously means the product a*b*c, and 
a[b]c unambiguously means that b is the argument of function a, 
multiplied by c. This is partly how Mathematica is able to determine 
precisely what you meant.

Of course, nobody else uses this notation. And while *Mathematica* 
rigorously follows it, *Alpha* attempts to "guess" what you mean. So in 
the case above, it takes "f(f(x))" and guessees that you maybe mean "f * 
f[x]", which isn't quite right. (This is what happens when computers try 
to guess things...)


Post a reply to this message

Copyright 2003-2023 Persistence of Vision Raytracer Pty. Ltd.