ex MyEx5 = MyEx4 + 1; // similar to above
@end example
-Expressions are handles to other more fundamental objects, that many
-times contain other expressions thus creating a tree of expressions
+Expressions are handles to other more fundamental objects, that often
+contain other expressions thus creating a tree of expressions
(@xref{Internal Structures}, for particular examples). Most methods on
@code{ex} therefore run top-down through such an expression tree. For
example, the method @code{has()} scans recursively for occurrences of
helpers) are internally derived from one abstract base class called
@code{basic}. You do not have to deal with objects of class
@code{basic}, instead you'll be dealing with symbols, numbers,
-containers of expressions and so on. You'll soon learn in this chapter
-how many of the functions on symbols are really classes. This is
-because simple symbolic arithmetic is not supported by languages like
-C++ so in a certain way GiNaC has to implement its own arithmetic.
+containers of expressions and so on.
@cindex container
@cindex atom
To get an idea about what kinds of symbolic composits may be built we
-have a look at the most important classes in the class hierarchy. The
-oval classes are atomic ones and the squared classes are containers.
-The dashed line symbolizes a `points to' or `handles' relationship while
-the solid lines stand for `inherits from' relationship in the class
-hierarchy:
+have a look at the most important classes in the class hierarchy and
+some of the relations among the classes:
@image{classhierarchy}
-Some of the classes shown here (the ones sitting in white boxes) are
-abstract base classes that are of no interest at all for the user. They
-are used internally in order to avoid code duplication if two or more
-classes derived from them share certain features. An example would be
-@code{expairseq}, which is a container for a sequence of pairs each
-consisting of one expression and a number (@code{numeric}). What
-@emph{is} visible to the user are the derived classes @code{add} and
-@code{mul}, representing sums of terms and products, respectively.
-@xref{Internal Structures}, where these two classes are described in
-more detail.
-
-At this point, we only summarize what kind of mathematical objects are
-stored in the different classes in above diagram in order to give you a
-overview:
+The abstract classes shown here (the ones without drop-shadow) are of no
+interest for the user. They are used internally in order to avoid code
+duplication if two or more classes derived from them share certain
+features. An example is @code{expairseq}, a container for a sequence of
+pairs each consisting of one expression and a number (@code{numeric}).
+What @emph{is} visible to the user are the derived classes @code{add}
+and @code{mul}, representing sums and products. @xref{Internal
+Structures}, where these two classes are described in more detail. The
+following table shortly summarizes what kinds of mathematical objects
+are stored in the different classes:
@cartouche
@multitable @columnfractions .22 .78
@math{Pi}
@end ifnottex
@item @code{numeric} @tab All kinds of numbers, @math{42}, @math{7/3*I}, @math{3.14159}@dots{}
-@item @code{add} @tab Sums like @math{x+y} or @math{a+(2*b)+3}
-@item @code{mul} @tab Products like @math{x*y} or @math{a*(x+y+z)*b*2}
+@item @code{add} @tab Sums like @math{x+y} or @math{a-(2*b)+3}
+@item @code{mul} @tab Products like @math{x*y} or @math{2*a^2*(x+y+z)/b}
@item @code{power} @tab Exponentials such as @math{x^2}, @math{a^b},
@tex
$\sqrt{2}$
@code{sqrt(}@math{2}@code{)}
@end ifnottex
@dots{}
-@item @code{pseries} @tab Power Series, e.g. @math{x+1/6*x^3+1/120*x^5+O(x^7)}
+@item @code{pseries} @tab Power Series, e.g. @math{x-1/6*x^3+1/120*x^5+O(x^7)}
@item @code{function} @tab A symbolic function like @math{sin(2*x)}
@item @code{lst} @tab Lists of expressions [@math{x}, @math{2*y}, @math{3+z}]
@item @code{matrix} @tab @math{n}x@math{m} matrices of expressions
@item @code{relational} @tab A relation like the identity @math{x}@code{==}@math{y}
-@item @code{color} @tab Element of the @math{SU(3)} Lie-algebra
+@item @code{color}, @code{coloridx} @tab Element and index of the @math{SU(3)} Lie-algebra
@item @code{isospin} @tab Element of the @math{SU(2)} Lie-algebra
-@item @code{idx} @tab Index of a tensor object
-@item @code{coloridx} @tab Index of a @math{SU(3)} tensor
+@item @code{idx} @tab Index of a general tensor object
@end multitable
@end cartouche
They are created by simply using the C++ operators @code{==}, @code{!=},
@code{<}, @code{<=}, @code{>} and @code{>=} between two expressions.
-@xref{Mathematical functions}, for examples where various applications of
-the @code{.subs()} method show how objects of class relational are used
-as arguments. There they provide an intuitive syntax for substitutions.
-They can also used for creating systems of equations that are to be
-solved for unknown variables. More applications of this class will
-appear throughout the next chapters.
-
+@xref{Mathematical functions}, for examples where various applications
+of the @code{.subs()} method show how objects of class relational are
+used as arguments. There they provide an intuitive syntax for
+substitutions. They are also used as arguments to the @code{ex::series}
+method, where the left hand side of the relation specifies the variable
+to expand in and the right hand side the expansion point. They can also
+be used for creating systems of equations that are to be solved for
+unknown variables. But the most common usage of objects of this class
+is rather inconspicuous in statements of the form @code{if
+(expand(pow(a+b,2))==a*a+2*a*b+b*b) @{...@}}. Here, an implicit
+conversion from @code{relational} to @code{bool} takes place. Note,
+however, that @code{==} here does not perform any simplifications, hence
+@code{expand()} must be called explicitly.
@node Methods and Functions, Information About Expressions, Relations, Top
for checking whether one expression is equal to another, or equal to zero,
respectively.
-@strong{Warning:} You will also find a @code{ex::compare()} method in the
+@strong{Warning:} You will also find an @code{ex::compare()} method in the
GiNaC header files. This method is however only to be used internally by
GiNaC to establish a canonical sort order for terms, and using it to compare
expressions will give very surprising results.
@example
@{
symbol x("x");
- ex e = 7+4.2*pow(x,2);
- cout << e << endl; // prints '7+4.2*x^2'
+ ex e = 4.5+pow(x,2)*3/2;
+ cout << e << endl; // prints '4.5+3/2*x^2'
// ...
@end example
The above example will produce (note the @code{x^2} being converted to @code{x*x}):
@example
-float f = 4.200000e+00*(x*x)+7.000000e+00;
-double d = 4.200000e+00*(x*x)+7.000000e+00;
-cl_N n = cl_F("4.2000000000000001776")*(x*x)+cl_F("7.0");
+float f = (3.000000e+00/2.000000e+00)*(x*x)+4.500000e+00;
+double d = (3.000000e+00/2.000000e+00)*(x*x)+4.500000e+00;
+cl_N n = (cl_F("3.0")/cl_F("2.0"))*(x*x)+cl_F("4.5");
@end example
Finally, there are the two methods @code{printraw()} and @code{printtree()} intended for GiNaC
produces
@example
-ex(+((power(ex(symbol(name=x,serial=1,hash=150875740,flags=11)),ex(numeric(2)),hash=2,flags=3),numeric(4.2000000000000001776L0)),,hash=0,flags=3))
+ex(+((power(ex(symbol(name=x,serial=1,hash=150875740,flags=11)),ex(numeric(2)),hash=2,flags=3),numeric(3/2)),,hash=0,flags=3))
type=Q25GiNaC3add, hash=0 (0x0), flags=3, nops=2
power: hash=2 (0x2), flags=3
x (symbol): serial=1, hash=150875740 (0x8fe2e5c), flags=11
2 (numeric): hash=2147483714 (0x80000042), flags=11
- 4.2000000000000001776L0 (numeric): hash=3006477126 (0xb3333346), flags=11
+ 3/2 (numeric): hash=2147483745 (0x80000061), flags=11
-----
overall_coeff
- 7 (numeric): hash=2147483763 (0x80000073), flags=11
+ 4.5L0 (numeric): hash=2147483723 (0x8000004b), flags=11
=====
@end example
@section Symbolic functions
The easiest and most instructive way to start with is probably to
-implement your own function. Objects of class @code{function} are
-inserted into the system via a kind of `registry'. They get a serial
-number that is used internally to identify them but you usually need not
-worry about this. What you have to care for are functions that are
-called when the user invokes certain methods. These are usual
+implement your own function. GiNaC's functions are objects of class
+@code{function}. The preprocessor is then used to convert the function
+names to objects with a corresponding serial number that is used
+internally to identify them. You usually need not worry about this
+number. New functions may be inserted into the system via a kind of
+`registry'. It is your responsibility to care for some functions that
+are called when the user invokes certain methods. These are usual
C++-functions accepting a number of @code{ex} as arguments and returning
one @code{ex}. As an example, if we have a look at a simplified
implementation of the cosine trigonometric function, we first need a
git://www.ginac.de / ginac.git / blobdiff