Re: [Maxima-discuss] function apply to members of list

[Stavros M. <mac...@gm...>]

On Sun, Dec 18, 2022 at 10:23 PM koko via Maxima-discuss <
max...@li...> wrote:

> ...
> But I think this is not the best way because map can also apply to
> polynomial in different manner.
>
> So, I downloaded all sourcecode, maxima-5.46.0.tar.gz in this site.
> https://sourceforge.net/projects/maxima/files/Maxima-source/5.46.0-source/
> ...


a) You shouldn't need to read the source code to understand what a Maxima
function or routine does. If the documentation is unclear, please ask us to
improve it.

b) *factor, ratsimp, *and some other routines map over lists: *factor(
[x^2+x, x^2-1] ) => [x*(x+1), (x-1)*(x+1)]*. This is handy, but I recommend
mapping explicitly with *map('factor, ...)* when programming, for clarity.
You cannot count on all routines doing this.

c) *map* maps over the *constituents* of an expression, retaining the
operator: *map(f,a+b) => f(a)+f(b); map(f,a^b) => f(a)^f(b)*. This is not
always meaningful or useful: *map(f,limit(g(a),a,0)) =>
limit(f(g(a)),f(a),f(0))*. In the case of lists, *op([a,b]) => "["*.