I also find Robert D's take on this bizarre, but it just shows (again) how different people have different instincts. For me, f = x^3 + x + 1 defines a polynomial, and polynomials define functions in an unambiguous way, and that is it. But if you think of f as a symbolic expression (as a traditional CA system would) then other interpretations are possible.
John 2008/11/6 Nick Alexander <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > On 5-Nov-08, at 8:55 PM, Robert Dodier wrote: > >> >> William Stein wrote: >> >>> Would you consider this weird if you read it in a paper, or >>> would you know how to interpret it? >>> >>> "Let $f = x^3 + x + 1$ and consider $f(10)$." >> >> I'm not so sure I know what to do with that. > > I find this bizarre. I am absolutely certain that I want to view $f$ > as a polynomial in one variable and evaluate it at 10. > > I can think of lots of alternate ideas (evaluate everything to > bottom!) but I believe none of them are common. Can you cite a paper > that uses the notion of $x^3$ denoting the three-fold composition of a > function $x$ and considering $f = x^3$ and $f(10)$ intending the three- > fold composition of $x$? > > Nick > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URLs: http://www.sagemath.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
