5. Data Types and Structures

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5.1 Numbers

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5.1.1 Introduction to Numbers

Complex numbers

A complex expression is specified in Maxima by adding the real part of the expression to %i times the imaginary part. Thus the roots of the equation x^2 - 4*x + 13 = 0 are 2 + 3*%i and 2 - 3*%i. Note that simplification of products of complex expressions can be effected by expanding the product. Simplification of quotients, roots, and other functions of complex expressions can usually be accomplished by using the realpart, imagpart, rectform, polarform, abs, carg functions.

Categories: Complex variables

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5.1.2 Functions and Variables for Numbers

Function: bfloat (expr)

Converts all numbers and functions of numbers in expr to bigfloat numbers. The number of significant digits in the resulting bigfloats is specified by the global variable fpprec.

When float2bf a floating point number is converted into a bigfloat number (since this may lead to loss of precision).

Categories: Numerical evaluation

Function: bfloatp (expr)

Returns true if expr is a bigfloat number, otherwise false.

Categories: Numerical evaluation Predicate functions

Option variable: bftorat

Default value: false

bftorat controls the conversion of bfloats to rational numbers. When bftorat is false, ratepsilon conversion (this results in relatively small rational numbers). When bftorat is true, the rational number generated will accurately represent the bfloat.

Note: bftorat has no effect on the transformation to rational numbers with the function rationalize.

Example:

(%i1) ratepsilon:1e-4;
(%o1)                         1.e-4
(%i2) rat(bfloat(11111/111111)), bftorat:false;
`rat' replaced 9.99990999991B-2 by 1/10 = 1.0B-1
                               1
(%o2)/R/                       --
                               10
(%i3) rat(bfloat(11111/111111)), bftorat:true;
`rat' replaced 9.99990999991B-2 by 11111/111111 = 9.99990999991B-2
                             11111
(%o3)/R/                     ------
                             111111

Categories: Numerical evaluation

Option variable: bftrunc

Default value: true

bftrunc causes trailing zeroes in non-zero bigfloat numbers not to be displayed. Thus, if bftrunc is false, bfloat (1) displays as 1.000000000000000B0. Otherwise, this is displayed as 1.0B0.

Categories: Numerical evaluation

Function: evenp (expr)

Returns true if expr is an even integer. false is returned in all other cases.

Categories: Predicate functions

Function: float (expr)

Converts integers, rational numbers and bigfloats in expr to floating point numbers. It is also an evflag, non-integral rational numbers and bigfloat numbers to be converted to floating point.

Categories: Numerical evaluation Evaluation flags

Option variable: float2bf

Default value: true

When float2bf is false, a warning message is printed when a floating point number is converted into a bigfloat number (since this may lead to loss of precision).

Categories: Numerical evaluation

Function: floatnump (expr)

Returns true if expr is a floating point number, otherwise false.

Categories: Numerical evaluation Predicate functions

Option variable: fpprec

Default value: 16

fpprec is the number of significant digits for arithmetic on bigfloat numbers. fpprec does not affect computations on ordinary floating point numbers.

5.2 Strings

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5.2.1 Introduction to Strings

Strings (quoted character sequences) are enclosed in double quote marks " for input, and displayed with or without the quote marks, depending on the global variable stringdisp.

Strings may contain any characters, including embedded tab, newline, and carriage return characters. The sequence \" is recognized as a literal double quote, and \\ as a literal backslash. When backslash appears at the end of a line, the backslash and the line termination (either newline or carriage return and newline) are ignored, so that the string continues with the next line. No other special combinations of backslash with another character are recognized; when backslash appears before any character other than ", \, or a line termination, the backslash is ignored. There is no way to represent a special character (such as tab, newline, or carriage return) except by embedding the literal character in the string.

There is no character type in Maxima; a single character is represented as a one-character string.

The stringproc add-on package contains many functions for working with strings.

Examples:

(%i1) s_1 : "This is a string.";
(%o1)               This is a string.
(%i2) s_2 : "Embedded \"double quotes\" and backslash \\ characters.";
(%o2) Embedded "double quotes" and backslash \ characters.
(%i3) s_3 : "Embedded line termination
in this string.";
(%o3) Embedded line termination
in this string.
(%i4) s_4 : "Ignore the \
line termination \
characters in \
this string.";
(%o4) Ignore the line termination characters in this string.
(%i5) stringdisp : false;
(%o5)                         false
(%i6) s_1;
(%o6)                   This is a string.
(%i7) stringdisp : true;
(%o7)                         true
(%i8) s_1;
(%o8)                  "This is a string."

Categories: Syntax

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5.2.2 Functions and Variables for Strings

Function: concat (arg_1, arg_2, …)

Concatenates its arguments. The arguments must evaluate to atoms. The return value is a symbol if the first argument is a symbol and a string otherwise.

concat evaluates its arguments. The single quote ' prevents evaluation.

(%i1) y: 7$
(%i2) z: 88$
(%i3) concat (y, z/2);
(%o3)                          744
(%i4) concat ('y, z/2);
(%o4)                          y44

A symbol constructed by concat may be assigned a value and appear in expressions. The :: left-hand side.

(%i5) a: concat ('y, z/2);
(%o5)                          y44
(%i6) a:: 123;
(%o6)                          123
(%i7) y44;
(%o7)                          123
(%i8) b^a;
                               y44
(%o8)                         b
(%i9) %, numer;
                               123
(%o9)                         b

Note that although concat (1, 2) looks like a number, it is a string.

(%i10) concat (1, 2) + 3;
(%o10)                       12 + 3

Categories: Expressions Strings

Function: sconcat (arg_1, arg_2, …)

Concatenates its arguments into a string. Unlike concat, arguments do not need to be atoms.

(%i1) sconcat ("xx[", 3, "]:", expand ((x+y)^3));
(%o1)               xx[3]:y^3+3*x*y^2+3*x^2*y+x^3

Categories: Expressions Strings

Function: string (expr)

Converts expr to Maxima's linear notation just as if it had been typed in.

The return value of string is a string, and thus it cannot be used in a computation.

Categories: Strings

Option variable: stringdisp

Default value: false

When stringdisp is true, strings are displayed enclosed in double quote marks. Otherwise, quote marks are not displayed.

stringdisp is always true when displaying a function definition.

Examples:

(%i1) stringdisp: false$
(%i2) "This is an example string.";
(%o2)              This is an example string.
(%i3) foo () :=
      print ("This is a string in a function definition.");
(%o3) foo() := 
              print("This is a string in a function definition.")
(%i4) stringdisp: true$
(%i5) "This is an example string.";
(%o5)             "This is an example string."

Categories: Display flags and variables

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5.3 Constants

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5.3.1 Functions and Variables for Constants

Constant: %e

%e represents the base of the natural logarithm, also known as Euler's number. The numeric value of %e is the double-precision floating-point value 2.718281828459045d0.

Categories: Constants

Constant: %i

%i represents the imaginary unit, sqrt(- 1).

Categories: Constants

Constant: false

false represents the Boolean constant of the same name. Maxima implements false by the value NIL in Lisp.

Categories: Constants

Constant: %gamma

The Euler-Mascheroni constant, 0.5772156649015329 ....

Categories: Constants

Constant: ind

ind represents a bounded, indefinite result.

5.4 Lists

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5.4.1 Introduction to Lists

Lists are the basic building block for Maxima and Lisp. All data types other than arrays, hash tables, numbers are represented as Lisp lists, These Lisp lists have the form

((MPLUS) $A 2)

to indicate an expression a+2. At Maxima level one would see the infix notation a+2. Maxima also has lists which are printed as

[1, 2, 7, x+y]

for a list with 4 elements. Internally this corresponds to a Lisp list of the form

((MLIST) 1  2  7  ((MPLUS)  $X $Y ))

The flag which denotes the type field of the Maxima expression is a list itself, since after it has been through the simplifier the list would become

((MLIST SIMP) 1 2 7 ((MPLUS SIMP) $X $Y))

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5.4.2 Functions and Variables for Lists

Operator: [

Operator: ]

[ and ] mark the beginning and end, respectively, of a list.

[ and ] also enclose the subscripts of a list, array, hash array, or array function.

Examples:

(%i1) x: [a, b, c];
(%o1)                       [a, b, c]
(%i2) x[3];
(%o2)                           c
(%i3) array (y, fixnum, 3);
(%o3)                           y
(%i4) y[2]: %pi;
(%o4)                          %pi
(%i5) y[2];
(%o5)                          %pi
(%i6) z['foo]: 'bar;
(%o6)                          bar
(%i7) z['foo];
(%o7)                          bar
(%i8) g[k] := 1/(k^2+1);
                                  1
(%o8)                     g  := ------
                           k     2
                                k  + 1
(%i9) g[10];
                                1
(%o9)                          ---
                               101

Categories: Lists Operators

Function: append (list_1, …, list_n)

Returns a single list of the elements of list_1 followed by the elements of list_2, … append also works on general expressions, e.g. append (f(a,b), f(c,d,e)); yields f(a,b,c,d,e).

Do example(append); for an example.

Categories: Lists Expressions

Function: assoc (key, list, default)

Function: assoc (key, list)

This function searches for the key in the left hand side of the input list of the form [x,y,z,...] where each of the list elements is an expression of a binary operand and 2 elements. For example x=1, 2^3, [a,b] etc. The key is checked against the first operand. assoc returns the second operand if the key is found. If the key is not found it either returns the default value. default is optional and defaults to false.

Categories: Lists Expressions

Function: cons (expr, list)

Returns a new list constructed of the element expr as its first element, followed by the elements of list. cons also works on other expressions, e.g. cons(x, f(a,b,c)); -> f(x,a,b,c).

Categories: Lists Expressions

Function: copylist (list)

Returns a copy of the list list.

Categories: Lists

Function: create_list (form, x_1, list_1, …, x_n, list_n)

Create a list by evaluating form with x_1 bound to each element of list_1, and for each such binding bind x_2 to each element of list_2, … The number of elements in the result will be the product of the number of elements in each list. Each variable x_i must actually be a symbol - it will not be evaluated. The list arguments will be evaluated once at the beginning of the iteration.

(%i1) create_list (x^i, i, [1, 3, 7]);
                                3   7
(%o1)                      [x, x , x ]

With a double iteration:

(%i1) create_list ([i, j], i, [a, b], j, [e, f, h]);
(%o1)   [[a, e], [a, f], [a, h], [b, e], [b, f], [b, h]]

Instead of list_i two args may be supplied each of which should evaluate to a number. These will be the inclusive lower and upper bounds for the iteration.

(%i1) create_list ([i, j], i, [1, 2, 3], j, 1, i);
(%o1)   [[1, 1], [2, 1], [2, 2], [3, 1], [3, 2], [3, 3]]

Note that the limits or list for the j variable can depend on the current value of i.

Categories: Lists

Function: delete (expr_1, expr_2)

Function: delete (expr_1, expr_2, n)

delete(expr_1, expr_2) removes from expr_2 any arguments of its top-level operator which are the same (as determined by "=") as expr_1. Note that "=" tests for formal equality, not equivalence. Note also that arguments of subexpressions are not affected.

expr_1 may be an atom or a non-atomic expression. expr_2 may be any non-atomic expression. delete returns a new expression; it does not modify expr_2.

delete(expr_1, expr_2, n) removes from expr_2 the first n arguments of the top-level operator which are the same as expr_1. If there are fewer than n such arguments, then all such arguments are removed.

Examples:

Removing elements from a list.

(%i1) delete (y, [w, x, y, z, z, y, x, w]);
(%o1)                  [w, x, z, z, x, w]

Removing terms from a sum.

(%i1) delete (sin(x), x + sin(x) + y);
(%o1)                         y + x

Removing factors from a product.

(%i1) delete (u - x, (u - w)*(u - x)*(u - y)*(u - z));
(%o1)                (u - w) (u - y) (u - z)

Removing arguments from an arbitrary expression.

(%i1) delete (a, foo (a, b, c, d, a));
(%o1)                     foo(b, c, d)

Limit the number of removed arguments.

(%i1) delete (a, foo (a, b, a, c, d, a), 2);
(%o1)                    foo(b, c, d, a)

Whether arguments are the same as expr_1 is determined by "=". Arguments which are equal but not "=" are not removed.

(%i1) [is (equal (0, 0)), is (equal (0, 0.0)), is (equal (0, 0b0))];
rat: replaced 0.0 by 0/1 = 0.0
`rat' replaced 0.0B0 by 0/1 = 0.0B0
(%o1)                  [true, true, true]
(%i2) [is (0 = 0), is (0 = 0.0), is (0 = 0b0)];
(%o2)                 [true, false, false]
(%i3) delete (0, [0, 0.0, 0b0]);
(%o3)                     [0.0, 0.0b0]
(%i4) is (equal ((x + y)*(x - y), x^2 - y^2));
(%o4)                         true
(%i5) is ((x + y)*(x - y) = x^2 - y^2);
(%o5)                         false
(%i6) delete ((x + y)*(x - y), [(x + y)*(x - y), x^2 - y^2]);
                              2    2
(%o6)                       [x  - y ]

Categories: Lists Expressions

Function: eighth (expr)

Returns the 8'th item of expression or list expr. See first

Categories: Lists Expressions

Function: endcons (expr, list)

Returns a new list consisting of the elements of list followed by expr. endcons also works on general expressions, e.g. endcons(x, f(a,b,c)); -> f(a,b,c,x).

Categories: Lists Expressions

Function: fifth (expr)

Returns the 5'th item of expression or list expr. See first

Categories: Lists Expressions

Function: first (expr)

Returns the first part of expr which may result in the first element of a list, the first row of a matrix, the first term of a sum, etc. Note that first and its related functions, rest and last, work on the form of expr which is displayed not the form which is typed on input. If the variable inflag functions will look at the internal form of expr. Note that the simplifier re-orders expressions. Thus first(x+y) will be x if inflag is true and y if inflag is false (first(y+x) gives the same results). The functions second … tenth yield the second through the tenth part of their input argument.

Categories: Lists Expressions

Function: fourth (expr)

Returns the 4'th item of expression or list expr. See first

Categories: Lists Expressions

Function: join (l, m)

Creates a new list containing the elements of lists l and m, interspersed. The result has elements [l[1], m[1], l[2], m[2], ...]. The lists l and m may contain any type of elements.

If the lists are different lengths, join ignores elements of the longer list.

Maxima complains if l or m is not a list.

Examples:

(%i1) L1: [a, sin(b), c!, d - 1];
(%o1)                [a, sin(b), c!, d - 1]
(%i2) join (L1, [1, 2, 3, 4]);
(%o2)          [a, 1, sin(b), 2, c!, 3, d - 1, 4]
(%i3) join (L1, [aa, bb, cc, dd, ee, ff]);
(%o3)        [a, aa, sin(b), bb, c!, cc, d - 1, dd]

Categories: Lists

Function: last (expr)

Returns the last part (term, row, element, etc.) of the expr.

Categories: Lists Expressions

Function: length (expr)

Returns (by default) the number of parts in the external (displayed) form of expr. For lists this is the number of elements, for matrices it is the number of rows, and for sums it is the number of terms (see dispform

The length command is affected by the inflag length(a/(b*c)); gives 2 if inflag is false (Assuming exptdispflag internal representation is essentially a*b^-1*c^-1).

Categories: Lists Expressions

Option variable: listarith

Default value: true

If false causes any arithmetic operations with lists to be suppressed; when true, list-matrix operations are contagious causing lists to be converted to matrices yielding a result which is always a matrix. However, list-list operations should return lists.

Categories: Lists Global flags

Function: listp (expr)

Returns true if expr is a list else false.

Categories: Lists Predicate functions

Function: makelist ()

Function: makelist (expr, n)

Function: makelist (expr, i, i_max)

Function: makelist (expr, i, i_0, i_max)

Function: makelist (expr, i, i_0, i_max, step)

Function: makelist (expr, x, list)

The first form, makelist (), creates an empty list. The second form, makelist (expr), creates a list with expr as its single element. makelist (expr, n) creates a list of n elements generated from expr.

The most general form, makelist (expr, i, i_0, i_max, step), returns the list of elements obtained when ev (expr, i=j) is applied to the elements j of the sequence: i_0, i_0 + step, i_0 + 2*step, ..., with |j| less than or equal to |i_max|.

The increment step can be a number (positive or negative) or an expression. If it is omitted, the default value 1 will be used. If both i_0 and step are omitted, they will both have a default value of 1.

makelist (expr, x, list) returns a list, the j'th element of which is equal to ev (expr, x=list[j]) for j equal to 1 through length (list).

Examples:

(%i1) makelist (concat (x,i), i, 6);
(%o1)               [x1, x2, x3, x4, x5, x6]
(%i2) makelist (x=y, y, [a, b, c]);
(%o2)                 [x = a, x = b, x = c]
(%i3) makelist (x^2, x, 3, 2*%pi, 2);
(%o3)                        [9, 25]
(%i4) makelist (random(6), 4);
(%o4)                     [2, 0, 2, 5]
(%i5) flatten (makelist (makelist (i^2, 3), i, 4));
(%o5)        [1, 1, 1, 4, 4, 4, 9, 9, 9, 16, 16, 16]
(%i6) flatten (makelist (makelist (i^2, i, 3), 4));
(%o6)         [1, 4, 9, 1, 4, 9, 1, 4, 9, 1, 4, 9]

Categories: Lists

Function: member (expr_1, expr_2)

Returns true if is(expr_1 = a) for some element a in args(expr_2), otherwise returns false.

expr_2 is typically a list, in which case args(expr_2) = expr_2 and is(expr_1 = a) for some element a in expr_2 is the test.

member does not inspect parts of the arguments of expr_2, so it may return false even if expr_1 is a part of some argument of expr_2.

5.5 Arrays

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5.5.1 Functions and Variables for Arrays

Function: array (name, dim_1, …, dim_n)

Function: array (name, type, dim_1, …, dim_n)

Function: array ([name_1, …, name_m], dim_1, …, dim_n)

Creates an n-dimensional array. n may be less than or equal to 5. The subscripts for the i'th dimension are the integers running from 0 to dim_i.

array (name, dim_1, ..., dim_n) creates a general array.

array (name, type, dim_1, ..., dim_n) creates an array, with elements of a specified type. type can be fixnum for integers of limited size or flonum for floating-point numbers.

array ([name_1, ..., name_m], dim_1, ..., dim_n) creates m arrays, all of the same dimensions.

If the user assigns to a subscripted variable before declaring the corresponding array, an undeclared array is created. Undeclared arrays, otherwise known as hashed arrays (because hash coding is done on the subscripts), are more general than declared arrays. The user does not declare their maximum size, and they grow dynamically by hashing as more elements are assigned values. The subscripts of undeclared arrays need not even be numbers. However, unless an array is rather sparse, it is probably more efficient to declare it when possible than to leave it undeclared. The array function can be used to transform an undeclared array into a declared array.

Categories: Arrays

Function: arrayapply (A, [i_1, …, i_n])

Evaluates A [i_1, ..., i_n], where A is an array and i_1, …, i_n are integers.

This is reminiscent of apply, instead of a function.

Categories: Expressions Arrays

Function: arrayinfo (A)

Returns information about the array A. The argument A may be a declared array, an undeclared (hashed) array, an array function, or a subscripted function.

For declared arrays, arrayinfo returns a list comprising the atom declared, the number of dimensions, and the size of each dimension. The elements of the array, both bound and unbound, are returned by listarray.

For undeclared arrays (hashed arrays), arrayinfo returns a list comprising the atom hashed, the number of subscripts, and the subscripts of every element which has a value. The values are returned by listarray.

For array functions, arrayinfo returns a list comprising the atom hashed, the number of subscripts, and any subscript values for which there are stored function values. The stored function values are returned by listarray.

For subscripted functions, arrayinfo returns a list comprising the atom hashed, the number of subscripts, and any subscript values for which there are lambda expressions. The lambda expressions are returned by listarray.

See also listarray.

Examples:

arrayinfo and listarray applied to a declared array.

(%i1) array (aa, 2, 3);
(%o1)                          aa
(%i2) aa [2, 3] : %pi;
(%o2)                          %pi
(%i3) aa [1, 2] : %e;
(%o3)                          %e
(%i4) arrayinfo (aa);
(%o4)                 [declared, 2, [2, 3]]
(%i5) listarray (aa);
(%o5) [#####, #####, #####, #####, #####, #####, %e, #####, 
                                        #####, #####, #####, %pi]

arrayinfo and listarray applied to an undeclared (hashed) array.

(%i1) bb [FOO] : (a + b)^2;
                                   2
(%o1)                       (b + a)
(%i2) bb [BAR] : (c - d)^3;
                                   3
(%o2)                       (c - d)
(%i3) arrayinfo (bb);
(%o3)               [hashed, 1, [BAR], [FOO]]
(%i4) listarray (bb);
                              3         2
(%o4)                 [(c - d) , (b + a) ]

arrayinfo and listarray applied to an array function.

(%i1) cc [x, y] := y / x;
                                     y
(%o1)                      cc     := -
                             x, y    x
(%i2) cc [u, v];
                                v
(%o2)                           -
                                u
(%i3) cc [4, z];
                                z
(%o3)                           -
                                4
(%i4) arrayinfo (cc);
(%o4)              [hashed, 2, [4, z], [u, v]]
(%i5) listarray (cc);
                              z  v
(%o5)                        [-, -]
                              4  u

arrayinfo and listarray applied to a subscripted function.

(%i1) dd [x] (y) := y ^ x;
                                     x
(%o1)                     dd (y) := y
                            x
(%i2) dd [a + b];
                                    b + a
(%o2)                  lambda([y], y     )
(%i3) dd [v - u];
                                    v - u
(%o3)                  lambda([y], y     )
(%i4) arrayinfo (dd);
(%o4)             [hashed, 1, [b + a], [v - u]]
(%i5) listarray (dd);
                         b + a                v - u
(%o5)      [lambda([y], y     ), lambda([y], y     )]

Categories: Arrays

Function: arraymake (A, [i_1, …, i_n])

Returns the expression A[i_1, ..., i_n]. The result is an unevaluated array reference.

arraymake is reminiscent of funmake, is an unevaluated array reference instead of an unevaluated function call.

Examples:

(%i1) arraymake (A, [1]);
(%o1)                          A
                                1
(%i2) arraymake (A, [k]);
(%o2)                          A
                                k
(%i3) arraymake (A, [i, j, 3]);
(%o3)                       A
                             i, j, 3
(%i4) array (A, fixnum, 10);
(%o4)                           A
(%i5) fillarray (A, makelist (i^2, i, 1, 11));
(%o5)                           A
(%i6) arraymake (A, [5]);
(%o6)                          A
                                5
(%i7) ''%;
(%o7)                          36
(%i8) L : [a, b, c, d, e];
(%o8)                    [a, b, c, d, e]
(%i9) arraymake ('L, [n]);
(%o9)                          L
                                n
(%i10) ''%, n = 3;
(%o10)                          c
(%i11) A2 : make_array (fixnum, 10);
(%o11)          {Array:  #(0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0)}
(%i12) fillarray (A2, [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]);
(%o12)          {Array:  #(1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10)}
(%i13) arraymake ('A2, [8]);
(%o13)                         A2
                                 8
(%i14) ''%;
(%o14)                          9

Categories: Expressions Arrays

System variable: arrays

Default value: []

arrays is a list of arrays that have been allocated. These comprise arrays declared by array, hashed arrays constructed by implicit definition (assigning something to an array element), and array functions defined by := and define. Arrays defined by make_array

See also array, arrayapply, arrayinfo, arraymake, fillarray, listarray, rearray.

Examples:

(%i1) array (aa, 5, 7);
(%o1)                          aa
(%i2) bb [FOO] : (a + b)^2;
                                   2
(%o2)                       (b + a)
(%i3) cc [x] := x/100;
                                   x
(%o3)                      cc  := ---
                             x    100
(%i4) dd : make_array ('any, 7);
(%o4)       {Array:  #(NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL)}
(%i5) arrays;
(%o5)                     [aa, bb, cc]

Categories: Arrays Global variables

Function: arraysetapply (A, [i_1, …, i_n], x)

Assigns x to A[i_1, ..., i_n], where A is an array and i_1, …, i_n are integers.

arraysetapply evaluates its arguments.

Categories: Expressions Arrays

Function: fillarray (A, B)

Fills array A from B, which is a list or an array.

If a specific type was declared for A when it was created, it can only be filled with elements of that same type; it is an error if an attempt is made to copy an element of a different type.

If the dimensions of the arrays A and B are different, A is filled in row-major order. If there are not enough elements in B the last element is used to fill out the rest of A. If there are too many, the remaining ones are ignored.

fillarray returns its first argument.

Examples:

Create an array of 9 elements and fill it from a list.

(%i1) array (a1, fixnum, 8);
(%o1)                          a1
(%i2) listarray (a1);
(%o2)              [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]
(%i3) fillarray (a1, [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]);
(%o3)                          a1
(%i4) listarray (a1);
(%o4)              [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

When there are too few elements to fill the array, the last element is repeated. When there are too many elements, the extra elements are ignored.

(%i1) a2 : make_array (fixnum, 8);
(%o1)             {Array:  #(0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0)}
(%i2) fillarray (a2, [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]);
(%o2)             {Array:  #(1 2 3 4 5 5 5 5)}
(%i3) fillarray (a2, [4]);
(%o3)             {Array:  #(4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4)}
(%i4) fillarray (a2, makelist (i, i, 1, 100));
(%o4)             {Array:  #(1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8)}

Multple-dimension arrays are filled in row-major order.

(%i1) a3 : make_array (fixnum, 2, 5);
(%o1)        {Array:  #2A((0 0 0 0 0) (0 0 0 0 0))}
(%i2) fillarray (a3, [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]);
(%o2)        {Array:  #2A((1 2 3 4 5) (6 7 8 9 10))}
(%i3) a4 : make_array (fixnum, 5, 2);
(%o3)     {Array:  #2A((0 0) (0 0) (0 0) (0 0) (0 0))}
(%i4) fillarray (a4, a3);
(%o4)     {Array:  #2A((1 2) (3 4) (5 6) (7 8) (9 10))}

Categories: Arrays

Function: listarray (A)

Returns a list of the elements of the array A. The argument A may be a declared array, an undeclared (hashed) array, an array function, or a subscripted function.

Elements are listed in row-major order. That is, elements are sorted according to the first index, then according to the second index, and so on. The sorting order of index values is the same as the order established by orderless.

For undeclared arrays, array functions, and subscripted functions, the elements correspond to the index values returned by arrayinfo.

Unbound elements of declared general arrays (that is, not fixnum and not flonum) are returned as #####. Unbound elements of declared fixnum or flonum arrays are returned as 0 or 0.0, respectively. Unbound elements of undeclared arrays, array functions, and subscripted functions are not returned.

Examples:

listarray and arrayinfo applied to a declared array.

(%i1) array (aa, 2, 3);
(%o1)                          aa
(%i2) aa [2, 3] : %pi;
(%o2)                          %pi
(%i3) aa [1, 2] : %e;
(%o3)                          %e
(%i4) listarray (aa);
(%o4) [#####, #####, #####, #####, #####, #####, %e, #####, 
                                        #####, #####, #####, %pi]
(%i5) arrayinfo (aa);
(%o5)                 [declared, 2, [2, 3]]

listarray and arrayinfo applied to an undeclared (hashed) array.

(%i1) bb [FOO] : (a + b)^2;
                                   2
(%o1)                       (b + a)
(%i2) bb [BAR] : (c - d)^3;
                                   3
(%o2)                       (c - d)
(%i3) listarray (bb);
                              3         2
(%o3)                 [(c - d) , (b + a) ]
(%i4) arrayinfo (bb);
(%o4)               [hashed, 1, [BAR], [FOO]]

listarray and arrayinfo applied to an array function.

(%i1) cc [x, y] := y / x;
                                     y
(%o1)                      cc     := -
                             x, y    x
(%i2) cc [u, v];
                                v
(%o2)                           -
                                u
(%i3) cc [4, z];
                                z
(%o3)                           -
                                4
(%i4) listarray (cc);
                              z  v
(%o4)                        [-, -]
                              4  u
(%i5) arrayinfo (cc);
(%o5)              [hashed, 2, [4, z], [u, v]]

listarray and arrayinfo applied to a subscripted function.

(%i1) dd [x] (y) := y ^ x;
                                     x
(%o1)                     dd (y) := y
                            x
(%i2) dd [a + b];
                                    b + a
(%o2)                  lambda([y], y     )
(%i3) dd [v - u];
                                    v - u
(%o3)                  lambda([y], y     )
(%i4) listarray (dd);
                         b + a                v - u
(%o4)      [lambda([y], y     ), lambda([y], y     )]
(%i5) arrayinfo (dd);
(%o5)             [hashed, 1, [b + a], [v - u]]

Categories: Arrays

Function: make_array (type, dim_1, …, dim_n)

Creates and returns a Lisp array. type may be any, flonum, fixnum, hashed or functional. There are n indices, and the i'th index runs from 0 to dim_i - 1.

The advantage of make_array over array doesn't have a name, and once a pointer to it goes away, it will also go away. For example, if y: make_array (...) then y points to an object which takes up space, but after y: false, y no longer points to that object, so the object can be garbage collected.

Examples:

(%i1) A1 : make_array (fixnum, 10);
(%o1)           {Array:  #(0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0)}
(%i2) A1 [8] : 1729;
(%o2)                         1729
(%i3) A1;
(%o3)          {Array:  #(0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1729 0)}
(%i4) A2 : make_array (flonum, 10);
(%o4) {Array:  #(0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0)}
(%i5) A2 [2] : 2.718281828;
(%o5)                      2.718281828
(%i6) A2;
(%o6) 
     {Array:  #(0.0 0.0 2.718281828 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0)}
(%i7) A3 : make_array (any, 10);
(%o7) {Array:  #(NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL)}
(%i8) A3 [4] : x - y - z;
(%o8)                      - z - y + x
(%i9) A3;
(%o9) {Array:  #(NIL NIL NIL NIL ((MPLUS SIMP) $X ((MTIMES SIMP)\
 -1 $Y) ((MTIMES SIMP) -1 $Z))
  NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL)}
(%i10) A4 : make_array (fixnum, 2, 3, 5);
(%o10) {Array:  #3A(((0 0 0 0 0) (0 0 0 0 0) (0 0 0 0 0)) ((0 0 \
0 0 0) (0 0 0 0 0) (0 0 0 0 0)))}
(%i11) fillarray (A4, makelist (i, i, 1, 2*3*5));
(%o11) {Array:  #3A(((1 2 3 4 5) (6 7 8 9 10) (11 12 13 14 15))
    ((16 17 18 19 20) (21 22 23 24 25) (26 27 28 29 30)))}
(%i12) A4 [0, 2, 1];
(%o12)                         12

Categories: Arrays

Function: rearray (A, dim_1, …, dim_n)

Changes the dimensions of an array. The new array will be filled with the elements of the old one in row-major order. If the old array was too small, the remaining elements are filled with false, 0.0 or 0, depending on the type of the array. The type of the array cannot be changed.

Categories: Arrays

Function: remarray (A_1, …, A_n)

Function: remarray (all)

Removes arrays and array associated functions and frees the storage occupied. The arguments may be declared arrays, undeclared (hashed) arrays, array functions, and subscripted functions.

remarray (all) removes all items in the global list arrays.

It may be necessary to use this function if it is desired to redefine the values in a hashed array.

remarray returns the list of arrays removed.

remarray quotes its arguments.

Categories: Arrays

Function: subvar (x, i)

Evaluates the subscripted expression x[i].

subvar evaluates its arguments.

arraymake (x, [i]) constructs the expression x[i], but does not evaluate it.

Examples:

(%i1) x : foo $
(%i2) i : 3 $
(%i3) subvar (x, i);
(%o3)                         foo
                                 3
(%i4) foo : [aa, bb, cc, dd, ee]$
(%i5) subvar (x, i);
(%o5)                          cc
(%i6) arraymake (x, [i]);
(%o6)                         foo
                                 3
(%i7) ''%;
(%o7)                          cc

Categories: Expressions Arrays

Function: subvarp (expr)

Returns true if expr is a subscripted variable, for example a[i].

Categories: Predicate functions

Option variable: use_fast_arrays

If true then only two types of arrays are recognized:

The art-q array (t in Common Lisp) which may have several dimensions indexed by integers, and may hold any Lisp or Maxima object as an entry. To construct such an array, enter a:make_array(any,3,4); then a will have as value, an array with twelve slots, and the indexing is zero based.
The Hash_table array which is the default type of array created if one does b[x+1]:y^2 (and b is not already an array, a list, or a matrix - if it were one of these an error would be caused since x+1 would not be a valid subscript for an art-q array, a list or a matrix). Its indices (also known as keys) may be any object. It only takes one key at a time (b[x+1,u]:y would ignore the u). Referencing is done by b[x+1] ==> y^2. Of course the key may be a list, e.g. b[[x+1,u]]:y would be valid. This is incompatible with the old Maxima hash arrays, but saves consing.

An advantage of storing the arrays as values of the symbol is that the usual conventions about local variables of a function apply to arrays as well. The Hash_table type also uses less consing and is more efficient than the old type of Maxima hashar. To obtain consistent behaviour in translated and compiled code set translate_fast_arrays to be true.

Categories: Arrays Global flags

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5.6 Structures

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5.6.1 Introduction to Structures

Maxima provides a simple data aggregate called a structure. A structure is an expression in which arguments are identified by name (the field name) and the expression as a whole is identified by its operator (the structure name). A field value can be any expression.

A structure is defined by the defstruct function; the global variable structures is the list of user-defined structures. The function new creates instances of structures. The @ operator refers to fields. kill(S) removes the structure definition S, and kill(x@ a) unbinds the field a of the structure instance x.

In the pretty-printing console display (with display2d equal to true), structure instances are displayed with the value of each field represented as an equation, with the field name on the left-hand side and the value on the right-hand side. (The equation is only a display construct; only the value is actually stored.) In 1-dimensional display (via grind or with display2d equal to false), structure instances are displayed without the field names.

There is no way to use a field name as a function name, although a field value can be a lambda expression. Nor can the values of fields be restricted to certain types; any field can be assigned any kind of expression. There is no way to make some fields accessible or inaccessible in different contexts; all fields are always visible.

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5.6.2 Functions and Variables for Structures

Global variable: structures

structures is the list of user-defined structures defined by defstruct.

Categories: Structures Global variables

Function: defstruct (S(a_1, …, a_n))

Function: defstruct (S(a_1 = v_1, …, a_n = v_n))

Define a structure, which is a list of named fields a_1, …, a_n associated with a symbol S. An instance of a structure is just an expression which has operator S and exactly n arguments. new(S) creates a new instance of structure S.

An argument which is just a symbol a specifies the name of a field. An argument which is an equation a = v specifies the field name a and its default value v. The default value can be any expression.

defstruct puts S on the list of user-defined structures, structures.

kill(S) removes S from the list of user-defined structures, and removes the structure definition.

Examples:

(%i1) defstruct (foo (a, b, c));
(%o1)                    [foo(a, b, c)]
(%i2) structures;
(%o2)                    [foo(a, b, c)]
(%i3) new (foo);
(%o3)                     foo(a, b, c)
(%i4) defstruct (bar (v, w, x = 123, y = %pi));
(%o4)             [bar(v, w, x = 123, y = %pi)]
(%i5) structures;
(%o5)      [foo(a, b, c), bar(v, w, x = 123, y = %pi)]
(%i6) new (bar);
(%o6)              bar(v, w, x = 123, y = %pi)
(%i7) kill (foo);
(%o7)                         done
(%i8) structures;
(%o8)             [bar(v, w, x = 123, y = %pi)]

Categories: Structures

Function: new (S)

Function: new (S (v_1, …, v_n))

new creates new instances of structures.

new(S) creates a new instance of structure S in which each field is assigned its default value, if any, or no value at all if no default was specified in the structure definition.

new(S(v_1, ..., v_n)) creates a new instance of S in which fields are assigned the values v_1, …, v_n.

Examples:

(%i1) defstruct (foo (w, x = %e, y = 42, z));
(%o1)              [foo(w, x = %e, y = 42, z)]
(%i2) new (foo);
(%o2)               foo(w, x = %e, y = 42, z)
(%i3) new (foo (1, 2, 4, 8));
(%o3)            foo(w = 1, x = 2, y = 4, z = 8)

Categories: Structures

Operator: @

@ is the structure field access operator. The expression x@ a refers to the value of field a of the structure instance x. The field name is not evaluated.

If the field a in x has not been assigned a value, x@ a evaluates to itself.

kill(x@ a) removes the value of field a in x.

Examples:

(%i1) defstruct (foo (x, y, z));
(%o1)                    [foo(x, y, z)]
(%i2) u : new (foo (123, a - b, %pi));
(%o2)           foo(x = 123, y = a - b, z = %pi)
(%i3) u@z;
(%o3)                          %pi
(%i4) u@z : %e;
(%o4)                          %e
(%i5) u;
(%o5)            foo(x = 123, y = a - b, z = %e)
(%i6) kill (u@z);
(%o6)                         done
(%i7) u;
(%o7)              foo(x = 123, y = a - b, z)
(%i8) u@z;
(%o8)                          u@z

The field name is not evaluated.

(%i1) defstruct (bar (g, h));
(%o1)                      [bar(g, h)]
(%i2) x : new (bar);
(%o2)                       bar(g, h)
(%i3) x@h : 42;
(%o3)                          42
(%i4) h : 123;
(%o4)                          123
(%i5) x@h;
(%o5)                          42
(%i6) x@h : 19;
(%o6)                          19
(%i7) x;
(%o7)                    bar(g, h = 19)
(%i8) h;
(%o8)                          123

Categories: Structures Operators

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