Skip to main content

core language - Why can't a string be formed by head String?


Since everything is an expression in Mathematica, why must a string object be formed by "abc" but not by a String[abc] expression?


You can look at a string's head by:


Head["abc"]



String

But you can not produce the same string by String


String[abc]

which, from my point of view, seems inconsistent with the principle that Everything Is an Expression.


However, I noticed that the basic Symbol object, on the other hand, can be formed by something like Symbol["a"].


The same question goes for four number objects (Integer, Real, Rational, and Complex). You can't say an integer 1 by something like Integer[1], can you?




Edit:Rational and Complex can be produced by their respective heads. So The question is valid only for String and two number objects, i.e. Integer and Real.




Answer



String and Integer are what I termed "implicit heads" while writing:



Rather than being part of the standard expression itself, at least as I understand it, these implicit heads instead serve the purpose of providing a "type" for pattern matching. (With a pattern _String, _Integer, etc.) The atomic expressions themselves are stored in a low-level format and handled transparently behind the scenes.


Of the heads you list Rational and Complex are exceptions as these are a kind of hybrid head: you can use them to enter data:


{Complex[1, 2], Rational[5, 8]}


{1 + 2 I, 5/8}


Critically you can also match patterns within these heads:


{1 + 2 I, 5/8} /. {Complex[a_, b_] :> foo[a, b], Rational[n_, m_] :> bar[n, m]}


{foo[1, 2], bar[5, 8]}

Nevertheless these expressions are considered "atomic" and they cannot be manipulated other ways that apply to standard expressions:


AtomQ /@ {1 + 2 I, 5/8}
foo @@@ {1 + 2 I, 5/8}



{True, True}

{1 + 2 I, 5/8}

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

plotting - Plot 4D data with color as 4th dimension

I have a list of 4D data (x position, y position, amplitude, wavelength). I want to plot x, y, and amplitude on a 3D plot and have the color of the points correspond to the wavelength. I have seen many examples using functions to define color but my wavelength cannot be expressed by an analytic function. Is there a simple way to do this? Answer Here a another possible way to visualize 4D data: data = Flatten[Table[{x, y, x^2 + y^2, Sin[x - y]}, {x, -Pi, Pi,Pi/10}, {y,-Pi,Pi, Pi/10}], 1]; You can use the function Point along with VertexColors . Now the points are places using the first three elements and the color is determined by the fourth. In this case I used Hue, but you can use whatever you prefer. Graphics3D[ Point[data[[All, 1 ;; 3]], VertexColors -> Hue /@ data[[All, 4]]], Axes -> True, BoxRatios -> {1, 1, 1/GoldenRatio}]

plotting - Filling between two spheres in SphericalPlot3D

Manipulate[ SphericalPlot3D[{1, 2 - n}, {θ, 0, Pi}, {ϕ, 0, 1.5 Pi}, Mesh -> None, PlotPoints -> 15, PlotRange -> {-2.2, 2.2}], {n, 0, 1}] I cant' seem to be able to make a filling between two spheres. I've already tried the obvious Filling -> {1 -> {2}} but Mathematica doesn't seem to like that option. Is there any easy way around this or ... Answer There is no built-in filling in SphericalPlot3D . One option is to use ParametricPlot3D to draw the surfaces between the two shells: Manipulate[ Show[SphericalPlot3D[{1, 2 - n}, {θ, 0, Pi}, {ϕ, 0, 1.5 Pi}, PlotPoints -> 15, PlotRange -> {-2.2, 2.2}], ParametricPlot3D[{ r {Sin[t] Cos[1.5 Pi], Sin[t] Sin[1.5 Pi], Cos[t]}, r {Sin[t] Cos[0 Pi], Sin[t] Sin[0 Pi], Cos[t]}}, {r, 1, 2 - n}, {t, 0, Pi}, PlotStyle -> Yellow, Mesh -> {2, 15}]], {n, 0, 1}]

plotting - Mathematica: 3D plot based on combined 2D graphs

I have several sigmoidal fits to 3 different datasets, with mean fit predictions plus the 95% confidence limits (not symmetrical around the mean) and the actual data. I would now like to show these different 2D plots projected in 3D as in but then using proper perspective. In the link here they give some solutions to combine the plots using isometric perspective, but I would like to use proper 3 point perspective. Any thoughts? Also any way to show the mean points per time point for each series plus or minus the standard error on the mean would be cool too, either using points+vertical bars, or using spheres plus tubes. Below are some test data and the fit function I am using. Note that I am working on a logit(proportion) scale and that the final vertical scale is Log10(percentage). (* some test data *) data = Table[Null, {i, 4}]; data[[1]] = {{1, -5.8}, {2, -5.4}, {3, -0.8}, {4, -0.2}, {5, 4.6}, {1, -6.4}, {2, -5.6}, {3, -0.7}, {4, 0.04}, {5, 1.0}, {1, -6.8}, {2, -4.7}, {3, -1....