Opened 14 years ago
Closed 11 years ago
#2429 closed enhancement (duplicate)
block_matrix command should be consistent with the syntax of the matrix command
Reported by: | jason | Owned by: | was |
---|---|---|---|
Priority: | major | Milestone: | sage-duplicate/invalid/wontfix |
Component: | linear algebra | Keywords: | |
Cc: | jdemeyer | Merged in: | |
Authors: | Reviewers: | Willem Jan Palenstijn | |
Report Upstream: | N/A | Work issues: | |
Branch: | Commit: | ||
Dependencies: | Stopgaps: |
Description
The block matrix command uses a slightly different syntax than the matrix command, leading to confusion. It would be great to fix it so that the following examples would work. Assume that the xi variables below are matrices
sage: # Throw an error if the dimensions of the blocks don't match up correctly. sage: # explicitly specify the positions of the blocks sage: block_matrix([[x1,x2],[x3,x4]]) sage: block_matrix([[x1,x2,x3],[x4,x5,x6]]) sage: # dimensions are the numbers of block rows and columns sage: block_matrix(2,3, [x1,x2,x3,x4,x5,x6]) sage: # coerce the matrix to a specific ring sage: block_matrix(QQ,2,3,[x1,x2,x3,x4,x5,x6]) sage: # 1 and 0 should still be interpreted as the identity and zero matrices sage: block_matrix([[x1,1],[1,x2]]) sage: # if only one dimension is given, assume the matrix is square sage: block_matrix(QQ,2,[x1,x2,x3,x4]) sage: block_matrix(2,[x1,x2,x3,x4]) sage: # the following works now sage: block_matrix([x1,x2,x3,x4])
Change History (4)
comment:1 Changed 14 years ago by
comment:2 Changed 11 years ago by
- Report Upstream set to N/A
There is now a patch at #4492 that handles this issue too.
comment:3 Changed 11 years ago by
- Cc jdemeyer added
- Reviewers set to Willem Jan Palenstijn
Since ticket #4492 has been merged, this can now be closed too. Jeroen, could you do so?
comment:4 Changed 11 years ago by
- Milestone changed from sage-4.6.2 to sage-duplicate/invalid/wontfix
- Resolution set to duplicate
- Status changed from new to closed
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As commented in the original patch, the command
"works" where "works" means that it makes a 2x2 matrix of submatrices. While that was what I expected when I used the command, it is quite ambiguous and I felt like I was on shaky ground while writing my own code on top of it. I do not like the ambiguity of that.
Note that it is also inconsistent with the matrix command:
which makes a 1x4 matrix.
I'd say they should both make an 1xn matrix (or matrix of submatrices). Indeed, I'd almost rather that the syntax with a simple list and no explicit dimensions be banned outright when we don't know the dimensions from some parent object due to ambiguity. Seems to go along with "Explicit is better than implicit."