I'm very much in favour of there being a vector type, so that, for example,
"v:vector([1,2,3])" produces a column vector, which can be operated on by
matrices (multiplication, transposition, norms etc), but can also be indexed
with a single index. That would also be more in line with the way that
other CAS's work (not that one should necessarily copy them).
-Alasdair
On 4/6/07, Robert Dodier <robert.dodier at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 4/5/07, Wolfgang Lindner <LindnerW at t-online.de> wrote:
>
> > Using one variable ax and splitting it in parts, good idea. But I ask
> myself: why does
> > Robert use _double_ indexing ax[2,1] etc., i.e. a mathematical matrix
> construct?
> > I hear my students asking: why is it not sufficent to use _single_
> indices, i.e. vectors?
>
> Oh --- even if a matrix has only one row or one column, it is still
> necessary to index it with two indices (one of which is always 1).
>
> It occurs to me that maybe Maxima should have a vector or tuple type
> distinct from lists and matrices. Or maybe Maxima should recognize
> a single index for a one-row or one-column matrix (although I'm not
> really in favor of that).
>
> HTH
> Robert Dodier
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