Table Of ContentWolfram Mathematica ® Tutorial Collection
MATHEMATICS AND ALGORITHMS
For use with Wolfram Mathematica® 7.0 and later.
For the latest updates and corrections to this manual:
visit reference.wolfram.com
For information on additional copies of this documentation:
visit the Customer Service website at www.wolfram.com/services/customerservice
or email Customer Service at [email protected]
C omments on this manual are welcomed at:
[email protected]
Printed in the United States of America.
15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
©2008 Wolfram Research, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright
holder.
Wolfram Research is the holder of the copyright to the Wolfram Mathematica software system ("Software") described
in this document, including without limitation such aspects of the system as its code, structure, sequence,
organization, “look and feel,” programming language, and compilation of command names. Use of the Software unless
pursuant to the terms of a license granted by Wolfram Research or as otherwise authorized by law is an infringement
of the copyright.
Wolfram Research, Inc. and Wolfram Media, Inc. ("Wolfram") make no representations, express,
statutory, or implied, with respect to the Software (or any aspect thereof), including, without limitation,
any implied warranties of merchantability, interoperability, or fitness for a particular purpose, all of
which are expressly disclaimed. Wolfram does not warrant that the functions of the Software will meet
your requirements or that the operation of the Software will be uninterrupted or error free. As such,
Wolfram does not recommend the use of the software described in this document for applications in
which errors or omissions could threaten life, injury or significant loss.
Mathematica, MathLink, and MathSource are registered trademarks of Wolfram Research, Inc. J/Link, MathLM,
.NET/Link, and webMathematica are trademarks of Wolfram Research, Inc. Windows is a registered trademark of
Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple
Computer, Inc. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. Mathematica is not
associated with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
Contents
Numbers
Types of Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Complex Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Numeric Quantities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Digits in Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Exact and Approximate Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Numerical Precision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Arbitrary-Precision Calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Arbitrary-Precision Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Machine-Precision Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Interval Arithmetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Indeterminate and Infinite Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Controlling Numerical Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Algebraic Calculations
Symbolic Computation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Values for Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Transforming Algebraic Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Simplifying Algebraic Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Putting Expressions into Different Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Simplifying with Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Picking Out Pieces of Algebraic Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Controlling the Display of Large Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Using Symbols to Tag Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Algebraic Manipulation
Structural Operations on Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Finding the Structure of a Polynomial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Structural Operations on Rational Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Algebraic Operations on Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Polynomials Modulo Primes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Symmetric Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Polynomials over Algebraic Number Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Trigonometric Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Expressions Involving Complex Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Logical and Piecewise Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Simplification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Using Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Manipulating Equations and Inequalities
Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Solving Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
The Representation of Equations and Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Equations in One Variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Counting and Isolating Polynomial Roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Algebraic Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Simultaneous Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Generic and Non-Generic Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Eliminating Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Relational and Logical Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Solving Logical Combinations of Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Inequalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Equations and Inequalities over Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
The Representation of Solution Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Quantifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Minimization and Maximization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Linear Algebra
Constructing Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Getting and Setting Pieces of Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Scalars, Vectors and Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Operations on Scalars, Vectors and Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Multiplying Vectors and Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Vector Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Matrix Inversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Basic Matrix Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Solving Linear Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Advanced Matrix Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Tensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Sparse Arrays: Linear Algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Series, Limits and Residues
Sums and Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Power Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Making Power Series Expansions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
The Representation of Power Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Operations on Power Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Operations on Power Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Composition and Inversion of Power Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Converting Power Series to Normal Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Solving Equations Involving Power Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Summation of Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Solving Recurrence Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Finding Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Residues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Padé Approximation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Calculus
Differentiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Total Derivatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Derivatives of Unknown Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
The Representation of Derivatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Defining Derivatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Indefinite Integrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Integrals That Can and Cannot Be Done . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Definite Integrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Integrals over Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Manipulating Integrals in Symbolic Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Differential Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Integral Transforms and Related Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Generalized Functions and Related Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Numerical Operations on Functions
Arithmetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Numerical Mathematics in Mathematica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
The Uncertainties of Numerical Mathematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Introduction to Numerical Sums, Products, and Integrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Numerical Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Numerical Evaluation of Sums and Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Numerical Equation Solving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Numerical Solution of Polynomial Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Numerical Root Finding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Introduction to Numerical Differential Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Numerical Solution of Differential Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Numerical Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Controlling the Precision of Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Monitoring and Selecting Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Functions with Sensitive Dependence on Their Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Numerical Operations on Data
Numerical Operations on Data
Basic Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Descriptive Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Discrete Distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Continuous Distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Partitioning Data into Clusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Using Nearest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Manipulating Numerical Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Curve Fitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Statistical Model Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Approximate Functions and Interpolation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Discrete Fourier Transforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Convolutions and Correlations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Cellular Automata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
Mathematical Functions
Naming Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Generic and Nongeneric Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Numerical Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
Piecewise Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
Pseudorandom Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
Integer and Number Theoretic Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
Combinatorial Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
Elementary Transcendental Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Functions That Do Not Have Unique Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
Mathematical Constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
Orthogonal Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Special Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
Elliptic Integrals and Elliptic Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
Mathieu and Related Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
Working with Special Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
Numbers
Types of Numbers
Four underlying types of numbers are built into Mathematica.
Integer arbitrary-length exact integer
Rational integer/integer in lowest terms
Real approximate real number, with any specified precision
Complex complex number of the form number+numberI
Intrinsic types of numbers in Mathematica.
Rational numbers always consist of a ratio of two integers, reduced to lowest terms.
In[1]:= 12344ê2222
6172
Out[1]=
1111
Approximate real numbers are distinguished by the presence of an explicit decimal point.
In[2]:= 5456.
Out[2]= 5456.
An approximate real number can have any number of digits.
In[3]:= 4.54543523454543523453452345234543
Out[3]= 4.5454352345454352345345234523454
Complex numbers can have integer or rational components.
In[4]:= 4+7ê8I
7Â
Out[4]= 4+
8
They can also have approximate real number components.
In[5]:= 4+5.6I
Out[5]= 4+5.6Â
2 Mathematics and Algorithms
123 an exact integer
123. an approximate real number
123.0000000000000 an approximate real number with a certain precision
123.+0.I a complex number with approximate real number
components
Several versions of the number 123.
You can distinguish different types of numbers in Mathematica by looking at their heads.
(Although numbers in Mathematica have heads like other expressions, they do not have explicit
elements which you can extract.)
The object 123 is taken to be an exact integer, with head Integer.
In[6]:= Head@123D
Out[6]= Integer
The presence of an explicit decimal point makes Mathematica treat 123. as an approximate
real number, with head Real.
In[7]:= [email protected]
Out[7]= Real
NumberQ@xD test whether x is any kind of number
IntegerQ@xD test whether x is an integer
EvenQ@xD test whether x is even
OddQ@xD test whether x is odd
PrimeQ@xD test whether x is a prime integer
Head@xD===type test the type of a number
Tests for different types of numbers.
NumberQ@xD tests for any kind of number.
In[8]:= [email protected]
Out[8]= True
5. is treated as a Real, so IntegerQ gives False.
In[9]:= [email protected]
Out[9]= False
If you use complex numbers extensively, there is one subtlety you should be aware of. When
you enter a number like 123., Mathematica treats it as an approximate real number, but as-
sumes that its imaginary part is exactly zero. Sometimes you may want to enter approximate
complex numbers with imaginary parts that are zero, but only to a certain precision.
Mathematics and Algorithms 3
If you use complex numbers extensively, there is one subtlety you should be aware of. When
you enter a number like 123., Mathematica treats it as an approximate real number, but as-
sumes that its imaginary part is exactly zero. Sometimes you may want to enter approximate
complex numbers with imaginary parts that are zero, but only to a certain precision.
When the imaginary part is the exact integer 0, Mathematica simplifies complex numbers to
real ones.
In[10]:= Head@123+0ID
Out[10]= Integer
Here the imaginary part is only zero to a certain precision, so Mathematica retains the complex
number form.
In[11]:= Head@123.+0.ID
Out[11]= Complex
The distinction between complex numbers whose imaginary parts are exactly zero, or are only
zero to a certain precision, may seem like a pedantic one. However, when we discuss, for
example, the interpretation of powers and roots of complex numbers in "Functions That Do Not
Have Unique Values", the distinction will become significant.
One way to find out the type of a number in Mathematica is just to pick out its head using
Head@exprD. For many purposes, however, it is better to use functions like IntegerQ which
explicitly test for particular types. Functions like this are set up to return True if their argument
is manifestly of the required type, and to return False otherwise. As a result, IntegerQ@xD will
give False, unless x has an explicit integer value.
Complex Numbers
You can enter complex numbers in Mathematica just by including the constant I, equal to -1 .
Make sure that you type a capital I.
If you are using notebooks, you can also enter I as  by typing EsciiEsc (see "Mathematical
Notation in Notebooks: Numerical Calculations"). The form  is normally what is used in output.
Note that an ordinary i means a variable named i, not -1 .
4 Mathematics and Algorithms
This gives the imaginary number result 2i.
In[1]:= Sqrt@-4D
Out[1]= 2Â
This gives the ratio of two complex numbers.
In[2]:= H4+3ILêH2-IL
Out[2]= 1+2Â
Here is the numerical value of a complex exponential.
In[3]:= Exp@2+9ID êê N
Out[3]= -6.73239+3.04517Â
x+I y the complex number x+iy
Re@zD real part
Im@zD imaginary part
Conjugate@zD complex conjugate z* or z
Abs@zD absolute value z
Arg@zD the argument j in z eij
Complex number operations.
Numeric Quantities
NumberQ@exprD test whether expr is explicitly a number
NumericQ@exprD test whether expr has a numerical value
Testing for numeric quantities.
Pi is a symbol, so Pi+3 is not explicitly a number.
In[1]:= NumberQ@Pi+3D
Out[1]= False
It does however have a numerical value.
In[2]:= NumericQ@Pi+3D
Out[2]= True
This finds the explicit numerical value of Pi+3.
Description:For use with Wolfram Mathematica® 7.0 and later. For the latest updates and corrections to this manual: visit reference.wolfram.com. For information
