On Tue, 25 Jan 2011 11:48:35 -0600
Jason Grout <jason-s...@creativetrax.com> wrote:
> > On Jan 25, 12:27 pm, Jason Grout<jason-s...@creativetrax.com>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> var('x,y')
> >> a=x+y
> >> b=-y
> >>
> >> then it seems you would have integrate(a+b) behave differently than
> >> integrate(a). That's why it makes less sense to me; to avoid
> >> confusion, the user should specify intent somewhere. In the
> >> f(x)=a+b case, the user is specifying that a+b is only a function
> >> of x, so the integral can use a default variable without confusion.
<snip>
> Let me be more clear. I think that:
>
> integrate(a) and diff(a) should be deprecated/not supported
> integrate(b) and diff(b) be deprecated/not supported
> integrate(a+b) and diff(a+b) be deprecated/not supported
>
> (each of these should require a explicit variable specified)
>
> I think this is similar to how we insist that students write the
> variable of integration after the "d" in an integral.
>
> However, in the case of callable functions with variables specified,
> I suppose it would be a nice shortcut to use the explicit intent the
> user expressed when creating the function to have a default variable
> for integration and differentiation.
+1
Thanks for formulating the different cases and the reasoning behind the
deprecation so clearly.
IMHO, the CallableSymbolicFunction's (constructed with f(x) = x^2) and
SymbolicFunctions (constructed with function('f') ) should be unified.
This should solve some of the confusion created by the 3 types of
functions Sage supports, including regular Python functions and the 2
symbolic variants. We could also polish the user interface and come up
with a better design in the process.
Cheers,
Burcin
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