(maxima.info)Functions and Variables for Program Flow


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37.4 Functions and Variables for Program Flow
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 -- Function: backtrace
          backtrace ()
          backtrace (<n>)

     Prints the call stack, that is, the list of functions which called
     the currently active function.

     'backtrace ()' prints the entire call stack.

     'backtrace (<n>)' prints the <n> most recent functions, including
     the currently active function.

     'backtrace' can be called from a script, a function, or the
     interactive prompt (not only in a debugging context).

     Examples:

        * 'backtrace ()' prints the entire call stack.

               (%i1) h(x) := g(x/7)$
               (%i2) g(x) := f(x-11)$
               (%i3) f(x) := e(x^2)$
               (%i4) e(x) := (backtrace(), 2*x + 13)$
               (%i5) h(10);
               #0: e(x=4489/49)
               #1: f(x=-67/7)
               #2: g(x=10/7)
               #3: h(x=10)
                                             9615
               (%o5)                         ----
                                              49

        * 'backtrace (<n>)' prints the <n> most recent functions,
          including the currently active function.

               (%i1) h(x) := (backtrace(1), g(x/7))$
               (%i2) g(x) := (backtrace(1), f(x-11))$
               (%i3) f(x) := (backtrace(1), e(x^2))$
               (%i4) e(x) := (backtrace(1), 2*x + 13)$
               (%i5) h(10);
               #0: h(x=10)
               #0: g(x=10/7)
               #0: f(x=-67/7)
               #0: e(x=4489/49)
                                             9615
               (%o5)                         ----
                                              49

 -- Special operator: do
 -- Special operator: while
 -- Special operator: unless
 -- Special operator: for
 -- Special operator: from
 -- Special operator: thru
 -- Special operator: step
 -- Special operator: next
 -- Special operator: in

     The 'do' statement is used for performing iteration.  The general
     form of the 'do' statements maxima supports is:

        * 'for <variable>: <initial_value> step <increment> thru <limit>
          do <body>'
        * 'for <variable>: <initial_value> step <increment> while
          <condition> do <body>'
        * 'for <variable>: <initial_value> step <increment> unless
          <condition> do <body>'
        * 'for <variable> in <list> do <body>'

     If the loop is expected to generate a list as output the command
     'makelist' may be the appropriate command to use instead, Note:
     Performance considerations for Lists.

     <initial_value>, <increment>, <limit>, and <body> can be any
     expression.  <list> is a list.  If the increment is 1 then "'step
     1'" may be omitted; As always, if 'body' needs to contain more than
     one command these commands can be specified as a comma-separated
     list surrounded by parenthesis or as a 'block'.  Due to its great
     generality the 'do' statement will be described in two parts.  The
     first form of the 'do' statement (which is shown in the first three
     items above) is analogous to that used in several other programming
     languages (Fortran, Algol, PL/I, etc.); then the other features
     will be mentioned.

     The execution of the 'do' statement proceeds by first assigning the
     <initial_value> to the <variable> (henceforth called the
     control-variable).  Then: (1) If the control-variable has exceeded
     the limit of a 'thru' specification, or if the condition of the
     'unless' is 'true', or if the condition of the 'while' is 'false'
     then the 'do' terminates.  (2) The <body> is evaluated.  (3) The
     increment is added to the control-variable.  The process from (1)
     to (3) is performed repeatedly until the termination condition is
     satisfied.  One may also give several termination conditions in
     which case the 'do' terminates when any of them is satisfied.

     In general the 'thru' test is satisfied when the control-variable
     is greater than the <limit> if the <increment> was non-negative, or
     when the control-variable is less than the <limit> if the
     <increment> was negative.  The <increment> and <limit> may be
     non-numeric expressions as long as this inequality can be
     determined.  However, unless the <increment> is syntactically
     negative (e.g.  is a negative number) at the time the 'do'
     statement is input, Maxima assumes it will be positive when the
     'do' is executed.  If it is not positive, then the 'do' may not
     terminate properly.

     Note that the <limit>, <increment>, and termination condition are
     evaluated each time through the loop.  Thus if any of these involve
     much computation, and yield a result that does not change during
     all the executions of the <body>, then it is more efficient to set
     a variable to their value prior to the 'do' and use this variable
     in the 'do' form.

     The value normally returned by a 'do' statement is the atom 'done'.
     However, the function 'return' may be used inside the <body> to
     exit the 'do' prematurely and give it any desired value.  Note
     however that a 'return' within a 'do' that occurs in a 'block' will
     exit only the 'do' and not the 'block'.  Note also that the 'go'
     function may not be used to exit from a 'do' into a surrounding
     'block'.

     The control-variable is always local to the 'do' and thus any
     variable may be used without affecting the value of a variable with
     the same name outside of the 'do'.  The control-variable is unbound
     after the 'do' terminates.

          (%i1) for a:-3 thru 26 step 7 do display(a)$
                                       a = - 3

                                        a = 4

                                       a = 11

                                       a = 18

                                       a = 25

          (%i1) s: 0$
          (%i2) for i: 1 while i <= 10 do s: s+i;
          (%o2)                         done
          (%i3) s;
          (%o3)                          55

     Note that the condition 'while i <= 10' is equivalent to 'unless i
     > 10' and also 'thru 10'.

          (%i1) series: 1$
          (%i2) term: exp (sin (x))$
          (%i3) for p: 1 unless p > 7 do
                    (term: diff (term, x)/p,
                     series: series + subst (x=0, term)*x^p)$
          (%i4) series;
                            7    6     5    4    2
                           x    x     x    x    x
          (%o4)            -- - --- - -- - -- + -- + x + 1
                           90   240   15   8    2

     which gives 8 terms of the Taylor series for 'e^sin(x)'.

          (%i1) poly: 0$
          (%i2) for i: 1 thru 5 do
                    for j: i step -1 thru 1 do
                        poly: poly + i*x^j$
          (%i3) poly;
                            5      4       3       2
          (%o3)          5 x  + 9 x  + 12 x  + 14 x  + 15 x
          (%i4) guess: -3.0$
          (%i5) for i: 1 thru 10 do
                    (guess: subst (guess, x, 0.5*(x + 10/x)),
                     if abs (guess^2 - 10) < 0.00005 then return (guess));
          (%o5)                  - 3.162280701754386

     This example computes the negative square root of 10 using the
     Newton- Raphson iteration a maximum of 10 times.  Had the
     convergence criterion not been met the value returned would have
     been 'done'.

     Instead of always adding a quantity to the control-variable one may
     sometimes wish to change it in some other way for each iteration.
     In this case one may use 'next <expression>' instead of 'step
     <increment>'.  This will cause the control-variable to be set to
     the result of evaluating <expression> each time through the loop.

          (%i6) for count: 2 next 3*count thru 20 do display (count)$
                                      count = 2

                                      count = 6

                                     count = 18

     As an alternative to 'for <variable>: <value> ...do...' the syntax
     'for <variable> from <value> ...do...' may be used.  This permits
     the 'from <value>' to be placed after the 'step' or 'next' value or
     after the termination condition.  If 'from <value>' is omitted then
     1 is used as the initial value.

     Sometimes one may be interested in performing an iteration where
     the control-variable is never actually used.  It is thus
     permissible to give only the termination conditions omitting the
     initialization and updating information as in the following example
     to compute the square-root of 5 using a poor initial guess.

          (%i1) x: 1000$
          (%i2) thru 20 do x: 0.5*(x + 5.0/x)$
          (%i3) x;
          (%o3)                   2.23606797749979
          (%i4) sqrt(5), numer;
          (%o4)                   2.23606797749979

     If it is desired one may even omit the termination conditions
     entirely and just give 'do <body>' which will continue to evaluate
     the <body> indefinitely.  In this case the function 'return' should
     be used to terminate execution of the 'do'.

          (%i1) newton (f, x):= ([y, df, dfx], df: diff (f ('x), 'x),
                    do (y: ev(df), x: x - f(x)/y,
                        if abs (f (x)) < 5e-6 then return (x)))$
          (%i2) sqr (x) := x^2 - 5.0$
          (%i3) newton (sqr, 1000);
          (%o3)                   2.236068027062195

     (Note that 'return', when executed, causes the current value of 'x'
     to be returned as the value of the 'do'.  The 'block' is exited and
     this value of the 'do' is returned as the value of the 'block'
     because the 'do' is the last statement in the block.)

     One other form of the 'do' is available in Maxima.  The syntax is:

          for <variable> in <list> <end_tests> do <body>

     The elements of <list> are any expressions which will successively
     be assigned to the 'variable' on each iteration of the <body>.  The
     optional termination tests <end_tests> can be used to terminate
     execution of the 'do'; otherwise it will terminate when the <list>
     is exhausted or when a 'return' is executed in the <body>.  (In
     fact, 'list' may be any non-atomic expression, and successive parts
     are taken.)

          (%i1)  for f in [log, rho, atan] do ldisp(f(1))$
          (%t1)                                  0
          (%t2)                                rho(1)
                                               %pi
          (%t3)                                 ---
                                                4
          (%i4) ev(%t3,numer);
          (%o4)                             0.78539816

 -- Function: errcatch (<expr_1>, ..., <expr_n>)

     Evaluates <expr_1>, ..., <expr_n> one by one and returns
     '[<expr_n>]' (a list) if no error occurs.  If an error occurs in
     the evaluation of any argument, 'errcatch' prevents the error from
     propagating and returns the empty list '[]' without evaluating any
     more arguments.

     'errcatch' is useful in 'batch' files where one suspects an error
     might occur which would terminate the 'batch' if the error weren't
     caught.

     See also 'errormsg'.

 -- Function: error (<expr_1>, ..., <expr_n>)
 -- System variable: error

     Evaluates and prints <expr_1>, ..., <expr_n>, and then causes an
     error return to top level Maxima or to the nearest enclosing
     'errcatch'.

     The variable 'error' is set to a list describing the error.  The
     first element of 'error' is a format string, which merges all the
     strings among the arguments <expr_1>, ..., <expr_n>, and the
     remaining elements are the values of any non-string arguments.

     'errormsg()' formats and prints 'error'.  This is effectively
     reprinting the most recent error message.

 -- Function: warning (<expr_1>, ..., <expr_n>)

     Evaluates and prints <expr_1>, ..., <expr_n>, as a warning message
     that is formatted in a standard way so a maxima front-end may be
     able to recognize the warning and to format it accordingly.

     The function 'warning' always returns false.

 -- Option variable: error_size
     Default value: 10

     'error_size' modifies error messages according to the size of
     expressions which appear in them.  If the size of an expression (as
     determined by the Lisp function 'ERROR-SIZE') is greater than
     'error_size', the expression is replaced in the message by a
     symbol, and the symbol is assigned the expression.  The symbols are
     taken from the list 'error_syms'.

     Otherwise, the expression is smaller than 'error_size', and the
     expression is displayed in the message.

     See also 'error' and 'error_syms'.

     Example:

     The size of 'U', as determined by 'ERROR-SIZE', is 24.

          (%i1) U: (C^D^E + B + A)/(cos(X-1) + 1)$

          (%i2) error_size: 20$

          (%i3) error ("Example expression is", U);

          Example expression is errexp1
           -- an error.  Quitting.  To debug this try debugmode(true);
          (%i4) errexp1;
                                      E
                                     D
                                    C   + B + A
          (%o4)                    --------------
                                   cos(X - 1) + 1
          (%i5) error_size: 30$

          (%i6) error ("Example expression is", U);

                                   E
                                  D
                                 C   + B + A
          Example expression is --------------
                                cos(X - 1) + 1
           -- an error.  Quitting.  To debug this try debugmode(true);

 -- Option variable: error_syms
     Default value: '[errexp1, errexp2, errexp3]'

     In error messages, expressions larger than 'error_size' are
     replaced by symbols, and the symbols are set to the expressions.
     The symbols are taken from the list 'error_syms'.  The first
     too-large expression is replaced by 'error_syms[1]', the second by
     'error_syms[2]', and so on.

     If there are more too-large expressions than there are elements of
     'error_syms', symbols are constructed automatically, with the
     <n>-th symbol equivalent to 'concat ('errexp, <n>)'.

     See also 'error' and 'error_size'.

 -- Function: errormsg ()

     Reprints the most recent error message.  The variable 'error' holds
     the message, and 'errormsg' formats and prints it.

 -- Option variable: errormsg
     Default value: 'true'

     When 'false' the output of error messages is suppressed.

     The option variable 'errormsg' can not be set in a block to a local
     value.  The global value of 'errormsg' is always present.

          (%i1) errormsg;
          (%o1)                         true
          (%i2) sin(a,b);
          sin: wrong number of arguments.
           -- an error. To debug this try: debugmode(true);
          (%i3) errormsg:false;
          (%o3)                         false
          (%i4) sin(a,b);
           -- an error. To debug this try: debugmode(true);

     The option variable 'errormsg' can not be set in a block to a local
     value.

          (%i1) f(bool):=block([errormsg:bool], print ("value of errormsg is",errormsg))$
          (%i2) errormsg:true;
          (%o2)                         true
          (%i3) f(false);
          value of errormsg is true
          (%o3)                         true
          (%i4) errormsg:false;
          (%o4)                         false
          (%i5) f(true);
          value of errormsg is false
          (%o5)                         false

 -- Function: go (<tag>)

     is used within a 'block' to transfer control to the statement of
     the block which is tagged with the argument to 'go'.  To tag a
     statement, precede it by an atomic argument as another statement in
     the 'block'.  For example:

          block ([x], x:1, loop, x+1, ..., go(loop), ...)

     The argument to 'go' must be the name of a tag appearing in the
     same 'block'.  One cannot use 'go' to transfer to tag in a 'block'
     other than the one containing the 'go'.

 -- Special operator: if

     Represents conditional evaluation.  Various forms of 'if'
     expressions are recognized.

     'if <cond_1> then <expr_1> else <expr_0>' evaluates to <expr_1> if
     <cond_1> evaluates to 'true', otherwise the expression evaluates to
     <expr_0>.

     The command 'if <cond_1> then <expr_1> elseif <cond_2> then
     <expr_2> elseif ... else <expr_0>' evaluates to <expr_k> if
     <cond_k> is 'true' and all preceding conditions are 'false'.  If
     none of the conditions are 'true', the expression evaluates to
     'expr_0'.

     A trailing 'else false' is assumed if 'else' is missing.  That is,
     the command 'if <cond_1> then <expr_1>' is equivalent to 'if
     <cond_1> then <expr_1> else false', and the command 'if <cond_1>
     then <expr_1> elseif ... elseif <cond_n> then <expr_n>' is
     equivalent to 'if <cond_1> then <expr_1> elseif ... elseif <cond_n>
     then <expr_n> else false'.

     The alternatives <expr_0>, ..., <expr_n> may be any Maxima
     expressions, including nested 'if' expressions.  The alternatives
     are neither simplified nor evaluated unless the corresponding
     condition is 'true'.

     The conditions <cond_1>, ..., <cond_n> are expressions which
     potentially or actually evaluate to 'true' or 'false'.  When a
     condition does not actually evaluate to 'true' or 'false', the
     behavior of 'if' is governed by the global flag 'prederror'.  When
     'prederror' is 'true', it is an error if any evaluated condition
     does not evaluate to 'true' or 'false'.  Otherwise, conditions
     which do not evaluate to 'true' or 'false' are accepted, and the
     result is a conditional expression.

     Among other elements, conditions may comprise relational and
     logical operators as follows.

          Operation            Symbol      Type

          less than            <           relational infix
          less than            <=
            or equal to                    relational infix
          equality (syntactic) =           relational infix
          negation of =        #           relational infix
          equality (value)     equal       relational function
          negation of equal    notequal    relational function
          greater than         >=
            or equal to                    relational infix
          greater than         >           relational infix
          and                  and         logical infix
          or                   or          logical infix
          not                  not         logical prefix

 -- Function: map (<f>, <expr_1>, ..., <expr_n>)

     Returns an expression whose leading operator is the same as that of
     the expressions <expr_1>, ..., <expr_n> but whose subparts are the
     results of applying <f> to the corresponding subparts of the
     expressions.  <f> is either the name of a function of n arguments
     or is a 'lambda' form of n arguments.

     'maperror' - if 'false' will cause all of the mapping functions to
     (1) stop when they finish going down the shortest <expr_i> if not
     all of the <expr_i> are of the same length and (2) apply <f> to
     [<expr_1>, <expr_2>, ...] if the <expr_i> are not all the same type
     of object.  If 'maperror' is 'true' then an error message will be
     given in the above two instances.

     One of the uses of this function is to 'map' a function (e.g.
     'partfrac') onto each term of a very large expression where it
     ordinarily wouldn't be possible to use the function on the entire
     expression due to an exhaustion of list storage space in the course
     of the computation.

     See also 'scanmap', 'maplist', 'outermap', 'matrixmap' and 'apply'.

          (%i1) map(f,x+a*y+b*z);
          (%o1)                        f(b z) + f(a y) + f(x)
          (%i2) map(lambda([u],partfrac(u,x)),x+1/(x^3+4*x^2+5*x+2));
                                     1       1        1
          (%o2)                     ----- - ----- + -------- + x
                                   x + 2   x + 1          2
                                                   (x + 1)
          (%i3) map(ratsimp, x/(x^2+x)+(y^2+y)/y);
                                                1
          (%o3)                            y + ----- + 1
                                              x + 1
          (%i4) map("=",[a,b],[-0.5,3]);
          (%o4)                          [a = - 0.5, b = 3]



 -- Function: mapatom (<expr>)

     Returns 'true' if and only if <expr> is treated by the mapping
     routines as an atom.  "Mapatoms" are atoms, numbers (including
     rational numbers), and subscripted variables.

 -- Option variable: maperror
     Default value: 'true'

     When 'maperror' is 'false', causes all of the mapping functions,
     for example

          map (<f>, <expr_1>, <expr_2>, ...)

     to (1) stop when they finish going down the shortest <expr_i> if
     not all of the <expr_i> are of the same length and (2) apply <f> to
     [<expr_1>, <expr_2>, ...] if the <expr_i> are not all the same type
     of object.

     If 'maperror' is 'true' then an error message is displayed in the
     above two instances.

 -- Option variable: mapprint
     Default value: 'true'

     When 'mapprint' is 'true', various information messages from 'map',
     'maplist', and 'fullmap' are produced in certain situations.  These
     include situations where 'map' would use 'apply', or 'map' is
     truncating on the shortest list.

     If 'mapprint' is 'false', these messages are suppressed.

 -- Function: maplist (<f>, <expr_1>, ..., <expr_n>)

     Returns a list of the applications of <f> to the parts of the
     expressions <expr_1>, ..., <expr_n>.  <f> is the name of a
     function, or a lambda expression.

     'maplist' differs from 'map(<f>, <expr_1>, ..., <expr_n>)' which
     returns an expression with the same main operator as <expr_i> has
     (except for simplifications and the case where 'map' does an
     'apply').

 -- Option variable: prederror
     Default value: 'false'

     When 'prederror' is 'true', an error message is displayed whenever
     the predicate of an 'if' statement or an 'is' function fails to
     evaluate to either 'true' or 'false'.

     If 'false', 'unknown' is returned instead in this case.  The
     'prederror: false' mode is not supported in translated code;
     however, 'maybe' is supported in translated code.

     See also 'is' and 'maybe'.

 -- Function: return (<value>)
     May be used to exit explicitly from the current 'block', 'while',
     'for' or 'do' loop bringing its argument.  It therefore can be
     compared with the 'return' statement found in other programming
     languages but it yields one difference: In maxima only returns from
     the current block, not from the entire function it was called in.
     In this aspect it more closely resembles the 'break' statement from
     C.

          (%i1) for i:1 thru 10 do o:i;
          (%o1)                         done
          (%i2) for i:1 thru 10 do if i=3 then return(i);
          (%o2)                           3
          (%i3) for i:1 thru 10 do
              (
                  block([i],
                      i:3,
                      return(i)
                  ),
                  return(8)
              );
          (%o3)                           8
          (%i4) block([i],
              i:4,
              block([o],
                  o:5,
                  return(o)
              ),
              return(i),
              return(10)
           );
          (%o4)                           4

     See also 'for', 'while', 'do' and 'block'.

 -- Function: scanmap
          scanmap (<f>, <expr>)
          scanmap (<f>, <expr>, bottomup)

     Recursively applies <f> to <expr>, in a top down manner.  This is
     most useful when complete factorization is desired, for example:

          (%i1) exp:(a^2+2*a+1)*y + x^2$
          (%i2) scanmap(factor,exp);
                                              2      2
          (%o2)                         (a + 1)  y + x

     Note the way in which 'scanmap' applies the given function 'factor'
     to the constituent subexpressions of <expr>; if another form of
     <expr> is presented to 'scanmap' then the result may be different.
     Thus, '%o2' is not recovered when 'scanmap' is applied to the
     expanded form of 'exp':

          (%i3) scanmap(factor,expand(exp));
                                     2                  2
          (%o3)                      a  y + 2 a y + y + x

     Here is another example of the way in which 'scanmap' recursively
     applies a given function to all subexpressions, including
     exponents:

          (%i4) expr : u*v^(a*x+b) + c$
          (%i5) scanmap('f, expr);
                              f(f(f(a) f(x)) + f(b))
          (%o5) f(f(f(u) f(f(v)                      )) + f(c))

     'scanmap (<f>, <expr>, bottomup)' applies <f> to <expr> in a
     bottom-up manner.  E.g., for undefined 'f',

          scanmap(f,a*x+b) ->
             f(a*x+b) -> f(f(a*x)+f(b)) -> f(f(f(a)*f(x))+f(b))
          scanmap(f,a*x+b,bottomup) -> f(a)*f(x)+f(b)
              -> f(f(a)*f(x))+f(b) ->
               f(f(f(a)*f(x))+f(b))

     In this case, you get the same answer both ways.

 -- Function: throw (<expr>)

     Evaluates <expr> and throws the value back to the most recent
     'catch'.  'throw' is used with 'catch' as a nonlocal return
     mechanism.

 -- Function: outermap (<f>, <a_1>, ..., <a_n>)

     Applies the function <f> to each one of the elements of the outer
     product <a_1> cross <a_2> ... cross <a_n>.

     <f> is the name of a function of n arguments or a lambda expression
     of n arguments.  Each argument <a_k> may be a list or nested list,
     or a matrix, or any other kind of expression.

     The 'outermap' return value is a nested structure.  Let <x> be the
     return value.  Then <x> has the same structure as the first list,
     nested list, or matrix argument, '<x>[i_1]...[i_m]' has the same
     structure as the second list, nested list, or matrix argument,
     '<x>[i_1]...[i_m][j_1]...[j_n]' has the same structure as the third
     list, nested list, or matrix argument, and so on, where <m>, <n>,
     ... are the numbers of indices required to access the elements of
     each argument (one for a list, two for a matrix, one or more for a
     nested list).  Arguments which are not lists or matrices have no
     effect on the structure of the return value.

     Note that the effect of 'outermap' is different from that of
     applying <f> to each one of the elements of the outer product
     returned by 'cartesian_product'.  'outermap' preserves the
     structure of the arguments in the return value, while
     'cartesian_product' does not.

     'outermap' evaluates its arguments.

     See also 'map', 'maplist', and 'apply'.

     Examples:

     Elementary examples of 'outermap'.  To show the argument
     combinations more clearly, 'F' is left undefined.

          (%i1) outermap (F, [a, b, c], [1, 2, 3]);
          (%o1) [[F(a, 1), F(a, 2), F(a, 3)], [F(b, 1), F(b, 2), F(b, 3)],
                                               [F(c, 1), F(c, 2), F(c, 3)]]
          (%i2) outermap (F, matrix ([a, b], [c, d]), matrix ([1, 2], [3, 4]));
                   [ [ F(a, 1)  F(a, 2) ]  [ F(b, 1)  F(b, 2) ] ]
                   [ [                  ]  [                  ] ]
                   [ [ F(a, 3)  F(a, 4) ]  [ F(b, 3)  F(b, 4) ] ]
          (%o2)    [                                            ]
                   [ [ F(c, 1)  F(c, 2) ]  [ F(d, 1)  F(d, 2) ] ]
                   [ [                  ]  [                  ] ]
                   [ [ F(c, 3)  F(c, 4) ]  [ F(d, 3)  F(d, 4) ] ]
          (%i3) outermap (F, [a, b], x, matrix ([1, 2], [3, 4]));
                 [ F(a, x, 1)  F(a, x, 2) ]  [ F(b, x, 1)  F(b, x, 2) ]
          (%o3) [[                        ], [                        ]]
                 [ F(a, x, 3)  F(a, x, 4) ]  [ F(b, x, 3)  F(b, x, 4) ]
          (%i4) outermap (F, [a, b], matrix ([1, 2]), matrix ([x], [y]));
                 [ [ F(a, 1, x) ]  [ F(a, 2, x) ] ]
          (%o4) [[ [            ]  [            ] ],
                 [ [ F(a, 1, y) ]  [ F(a, 2, y) ] ]
                                        [ [ F(b, 1, x) ]  [ F(b, 2, x) ] ]
                                        [ [            ]  [            ] ]]
                                        [ [ F(b, 1, y) ]  [ F(b, 2, y) ] ]
          (%i5) outermap ("+", [a, b, c], [1, 2, 3]);
          (%o5) [[a + 1, a + 2, a + 3], [b + 1, b + 2, b + 3],
                                                     [c + 1, c + 2, c + 3]]

     A closer examination of the 'outermap' return value.  The first,
     second, and third arguments are a matrix, a list, and a matrix,
     respectively.  The return value is a matrix.  Each element of that
     matrix is a list, and each element of each list is a matrix.

          (%i1) arg_1 :  matrix ([a, b], [c, d]);
                                      [ a  b ]
          (%o1)                       [      ]
                                      [ c  d ]
          (%i2) arg_2 : [11, 22];
          (%o2)                       [11, 22]
          (%i3) arg_3 : matrix ([xx, yy]);
          (%o3)                      [ xx  yy ]
          (%i4) xx_0 : outermap (lambda ([x, y, z], x / y + z), arg_1,
                                                             arg_2, arg_3);
                         [  [      a        a  ]  [      a        a  ]  ]
                         [ [[ xx + --  yy + -- ], [ xx + --  yy + -- ]] ]
                         [  [      11       11 ]  [      22       22 ]  ]
          (%o4)  Col 1 = [                                              ]
                         [  [      c        c  ]  [      c        c  ]  ]
                         [ [[ xx + --  yy + -- ], [ xx + --  yy + -- ]] ]
                         [  [      11       11 ]  [      22       22 ]  ]
                           [  [      b        b  ]  [      b        b  ]  ]
                           [ [[ xx + --  yy + -- ], [ xx + --  yy + -- ]] ]
                           [  [      11       11 ]  [      22       22 ]  ]
                   Col 2 = [                                              ]
                           [  [      d        d  ]  [      d        d  ]  ]
                           [ [[ xx + --  yy + -- ], [ xx + --  yy + -- ]] ]
                           [  [      11       11 ]  [      22       22 ]  ]
          (%i5) xx_1 : xx_0 [1][1];
                     [      a        a  ]  [      a        a  ]
          (%o5)     [[ xx + --  yy + -- ], [ xx + --  yy + -- ]]
                     [      11       11 ]  [      22       22 ]
          (%i6) xx_2 : xx_0 [1][1] [1];
                                [      a        a  ]
          (%o6)                 [ xx + --  yy + -- ]
                                [      11       11 ]
          (%i7) xx_3 : xx_0 [1][1] [1] [1][1];
                                            a
          (%o7)                        xx + --
                                            11
          (%i8) [op (arg_1), op (arg_2), op (arg_3)];
          (%o8)                  [matrix, [, matrix]
          (%i9) [op (xx_0), op (xx_1), op (xx_2)];
          (%o9)                  [matrix, [, matrix]

     'outermap' preserves the structure of the arguments in the return
     value, while 'cartesian_product' does not.

          (%i1) outermap (F, [a, b, c], [1, 2, 3]);
          (%o1) [[F(a, 1), F(a, 2), F(a, 3)], [F(b, 1), F(b, 2), F(b, 3)],
                                               [F(c, 1), F(c, 2), F(c, 3)]]
          (%i2) setify (flatten (%));
          (%o2) {F(a, 1), F(a, 2), F(a, 3), F(b, 1), F(b, 2), F(b, 3),
                                                 F(c, 1), F(c, 2), F(c, 3)}
          (%i3) map (lambda ([L], apply (F, L)),
                               cartesian_product ({a, b, c}, {1, 2, 3}));
          (%o3) {F(a, 1), F(a, 2), F(a, 3), F(b, 1), F(b, 2), F(b, 3),
                                                 F(c, 1), F(c, 2), F(c, 3)}
          (%i4) is (equal (%, %th (2)));
          (%o4)                         true


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