Why is DSolve different when the equation is built programmatically?












4












$begingroup$


Here is a simple differential equation.



mwe=y[x]/.First@DSolve [{y'[x]==x-2*x*y[x],y[0]==0},y[x],x]


I get the answer $frac{1}{2}-frac{e^{-x^2}}{2}$



If I build up the same equation in a simple program, I get a different answer:



lsolve[r_,q_,a_,eta_]=y[x]/.First@DSolve[{y'[x]==r-q*y[x],y[a]==eta},y[x],x];
nwe=lsolve[x,2*x,0,0]


After simplifying, I get the answer $frac{1}{2}-frac{e^{-2x^2}}{2}$. Where did the extra factor of $2$ in the exponent come from? And how can I make it go away?










share|improve this question











$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    Here are the docs on this issue, in case it helps someone else. reference.wolfram.com/language/tutorial/…
    $endgroup$
    – Joe Corneli
    Feb 12 at 15:42


















4












$begingroup$


Here is a simple differential equation.



mwe=y[x]/.First@DSolve [{y'[x]==x-2*x*y[x],y[0]==0},y[x],x]


I get the answer $frac{1}{2}-frac{e^{-x^2}}{2}$



If I build up the same equation in a simple program, I get a different answer:



lsolve[r_,q_,a_,eta_]=y[x]/.First@DSolve[{y'[x]==r-q*y[x],y[a]==eta},y[x],x];
nwe=lsolve[x,2*x,0,0]


After simplifying, I get the answer $frac{1}{2}-frac{e^{-2x^2}}{2}$. Where did the extra factor of $2$ in the exponent come from? And how can I make it go away?










share|improve this question











$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    Here are the docs on this issue, in case it helps someone else. reference.wolfram.com/language/tutorial/…
    $endgroup$
    – Joe Corneli
    Feb 12 at 15:42
















4












4








4





$begingroup$


Here is a simple differential equation.



mwe=y[x]/.First@DSolve [{y'[x]==x-2*x*y[x],y[0]==0},y[x],x]


I get the answer $frac{1}{2}-frac{e^{-x^2}}{2}$



If I build up the same equation in a simple program, I get a different answer:



lsolve[r_,q_,a_,eta_]=y[x]/.First@DSolve[{y'[x]==r-q*y[x],y[a]==eta},y[x],x];
nwe=lsolve[x,2*x,0,0]


After simplifying, I get the answer $frac{1}{2}-frac{e^{-2x^2}}{2}$. Where did the extra factor of $2$ in the exponent come from? And how can I make it go away?










share|improve this question











$endgroup$




Here is a simple differential equation.



mwe=y[x]/.First@DSolve [{y'[x]==x-2*x*y[x],y[0]==0},y[x],x]


I get the answer $frac{1}{2}-frac{e^{-x^2}}{2}$



If I build up the same equation in a simple program, I get a different answer:



lsolve[r_,q_,a_,eta_]=y[x]/.First@DSolve[{y'[x]==r-q*y[x],y[a]==eta},y[x],x];
nwe=lsolve[x,2*x,0,0]


After simplifying, I get the answer $frac{1}{2}-frac{e^{-2x^2}}{2}$. Where did the extra factor of $2$ in the exponent come from? And how can I make it go away?







differential-equations variable






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Feb 12 at 20:32









Peter Mortensen

33627




33627










asked Feb 12 at 15:25









Joe CorneliJoe Corneli

1335




1335












  • $begingroup$
    Here are the docs on this issue, in case it helps someone else. reference.wolfram.com/language/tutorial/…
    $endgroup$
    – Joe Corneli
    Feb 12 at 15:42




















  • $begingroup$
    Here are the docs on this issue, in case it helps someone else. reference.wolfram.com/language/tutorial/…
    $endgroup$
    – Joe Corneli
    Feb 12 at 15:42


















$begingroup$
Here are the docs on this issue, in case it helps someone else. reference.wolfram.com/language/tutorial/…
$endgroup$
– Joe Corneli
Feb 12 at 15:42






$begingroup$
Here are the docs on this issue, in case it helps someone else. reference.wolfram.com/language/tutorial/…
$endgroup$
– Joe Corneli
Feb 12 at 15:42












1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















9












$begingroup$

You attempt to solve the ODE at the time of definition of lsolve. At this point, q does not depend on x. You really want to use SetDelayed here:



lsolve[r_, q_, a_, eta_] := 
y[x] /. First@DSolve[{y'[x] == r - q*y[x], y[a] == eta}, y[x], x];
nwe = lsolve[x, 2*x, 0, 0] // Simplify



1/2 - E^-x^2/2







share|improve this answer











$endgroup$













  • $begingroup$
    Thanks, I'm glad I asked. Even though my version was syntactically correct, it would have been nice if Mathematica produced a warning!
    $endgroup$
    – Joe Corneli
    Feb 12 at 15:41










  • $begingroup$
    How should Mathematica be able to detect that this does not align with your expectations? Both syntaxes f[x_] = ... and f[x_] := ... have the applications, e.g., the former can be considered as a shorthand for f[x_] := Evaluate[...]. This is usefull whenever a symbolic compuation can already performed at the time of definition so that it need not be redone every time f is called.
    $endgroup$
    – Henrik Schumacher
    Feb 12 at 17:17










  • $begingroup$
    As you said in the answer: "At this point, q does not depend on x." I think Mathematica should be able to tell that I was building an expression that does depend on x and then generate a warning (but certainly not an error) very much along the lines of what you told me. Otherwise everyone who doesn't know about := will end up asking a question similar to mine. How to preempt that and automate your answer? :-)
    $endgroup$
    – Joe Corneli
    Feb 13 at 13:18












  • $begingroup$
    When an assignment is made with =, Mathematica can only set the left hand side to the value of the right hand side at the time of assignment. Evaluate y[x]/.First@DSolve[{y'[x]==r-q*y[x],y[a]==eta},y[x],x] (just in case: in a fresh kernel) and you will see that the result is (E^(-q x) (E^(a q) eta q - E^(a q) r + E^(q x) r))/q. Because Mathematica solves the ODE at this point in time and because q is independent of x. Of course, you may tell Mathematica that q should depend on x by using q[x] instead of q, but I don't think you will like the result either.
    $endgroup$
    – Henrik Schumacher
    Feb 13 at 13:24










  • $begingroup$
    I don't understand what you mean by "automation". The difference between = and := lies in the time of execution of the right hand side. If you want that the ODE is solved only after a precise value of q is supplied, you have to use :=. And yes, there are a lot of questions on the subtle differences of = and := on this site. And I have to admit that was also something that was quite miraculous to me when I started to use the language. It helps a bit to recall that Mathematica, in its core, is nothing else but a term rewriting system.
    $endgroup$
    – Henrik Schumacher
    Feb 13 at 13:28














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1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









9












$begingroup$

You attempt to solve the ODE at the time of definition of lsolve. At this point, q does not depend on x. You really want to use SetDelayed here:



lsolve[r_, q_, a_, eta_] := 
y[x] /. First@DSolve[{y'[x] == r - q*y[x], y[a] == eta}, y[x], x];
nwe = lsolve[x, 2*x, 0, 0] // Simplify



1/2 - E^-x^2/2







share|improve this answer











$endgroup$













  • $begingroup$
    Thanks, I'm glad I asked. Even though my version was syntactically correct, it would have been nice if Mathematica produced a warning!
    $endgroup$
    – Joe Corneli
    Feb 12 at 15:41










  • $begingroup$
    How should Mathematica be able to detect that this does not align with your expectations? Both syntaxes f[x_] = ... and f[x_] := ... have the applications, e.g., the former can be considered as a shorthand for f[x_] := Evaluate[...]. This is usefull whenever a symbolic compuation can already performed at the time of definition so that it need not be redone every time f is called.
    $endgroup$
    – Henrik Schumacher
    Feb 12 at 17:17










  • $begingroup$
    As you said in the answer: "At this point, q does not depend on x." I think Mathematica should be able to tell that I was building an expression that does depend on x and then generate a warning (but certainly not an error) very much along the lines of what you told me. Otherwise everyone who doesn't know about := will end up asking a question similar to mine. How to preempt that and automate your answer? :-)
    $endgroup$
    – Joe Corneli
    Feb 13 at 13:18












  • $begingroup$
    When an assignment is made with =, Mathematica can only set the left hand side to the value of the right hand side at the time of assignment. Evaluate y[x]/.First@DSolve[{y'[x]==r-q*y[x],y[a]==eta},y[x],x] (just in case: in a fresh kernel) and you will see that the result is (E^(-q x) (E^(a q) eta q - E^(a q) r + E^(q x) r))/q. Because Mathematica solves the ODE at this point in time and because q is independent of x. Of course, you may tell Mathematica that q should depend on x by using q[x] instead of q, but I don't think you will like the result either.
    $endgroup$
    – Henrik Schumacher
    Feb 13 at 13:24










  • $begingroup$
    I don't understand what you mean by "automation". The difference between = and := lies in the time of execution of the right hand side. If you want that the ODE is solved only after a precise value of q is supplied, you have to use :=. And yes, there are a lot of questions on the subtle differences of = and := on this site. And I have to admit that was also something that was quite miraculous to me when I started to use the language. It helps a bit to recall that Mathematica, in its core, is nothing else but a term rewriting system.
    $endgroup$
    – Henrik Schumacher
    Feb 13 at 13:28


















9












$begingroup$

You attempt to solve the ODE at the time of definition of lsolve. At this point, q does not depend on x. You really want to use SetDelayed here:



lsolve[r_, q_, a_, eta_] := 
y[x] /. First@DSolve[{y'[x] == r - q*y[x], y[a] == eta}, y[x], x];
nwe = lsolve[x, 2*x, 0, 0] // Simplify



1/2 - E^-x^2/2







share|improve this answer











$endgroup$













  • $begingroup$
    Thanks, I'm glad I asked. Even though my version was syntactically correct, it would have been nice if Mathematica produced a warning!
    $endgroup$
    – Joe Corneli
    Feb 12 at 15:41










  • $begingroup$
    How should Mathematica be able to detect that this does not align with your expectations? Both syntaxes f[x_] = ... and f[x_] := ... have the applications, e.g., the former can be considered as a shorthand for f[x_] := Evaluate[...]. This is usefull whenever a symbolic compuation can already performed at the time of definition so that it need not be redone every time f is called.
    $endgroup$
    – Henrik Schumacher
    Feb 12 at 17:17










  • $begingroup$
    As you said in the answer: "At this point, q does not depend on x." I think Mathematica should be able to tell that I was building an expression that does depend on x and then generate a warning (but certainly not an error) very much along the lines of what you told me. Otherwise everyone who doesn't know about := will end up asking a question similar to mine. How to preempt that and automate your answer? :-)
    $endgroup$
    – Joe Corneli
    Feb 13 at 13:18












  • $begingroup$
    When an assignment is made with =, Mathematica can only set the left hand side to the value of the right hand side at the time of assignment. Evaluate y[x]/.First@DSolve[{y'[x]==r-q*y[x],y[a]==eta},y[x],x] (just in case: in a fresh kernel) and you will see that the result is (E^(-q x) (E^(a q) eta q - E^(a q) r + E^(q x) r))/q. Because Mathematica solves the ODE at this point in time and because q is independent of x. Of course, you may tell Mathematica that q should depend on x by using q[x] instead of q, but I don't think you will like the result either.
    $endgroup$
    – Henrik Schumacher
    Feb 13 at 13:24










  • $begingroup$
    I don't understand what you mean by "automation". The difference between = and := lies in the time of execution of the right hand side. If you want that the ODE is solved only after a precise value of q is supplied, you have to use :=. And yes, there are a lot of questions on the subtle differences of = and := on this site. And I have to admit that was also something that was quite miraculous to me when I started to use the language. It helps a bit to recall that Mathematica, in its core, is nothing else but a term rewriting system.
    $endgroup$
    – Henrik Schumacher
    Feb 13 at 13:28
















9












9








9





$begingroup$

You attempt to solve the ODE at the time of definition of lsolve. At this point, q does not depend on x. You really want to use SetDelayed here:



lsolve[r_, q_, a_, eta_] := 
y[x] /. First@DSolve[{y'[x] == r - q*y[x], y[a] == eta}, y[x], x];
nwe = lsolve[x, 2*x, 0, 0] // Simplify



1/2 - E^-x^2/2







share|improve this answer











$endgroup$



You attempt to solve the ODE at the time of definition of lsolve. At this point, q does not depend on x. You really want to use SetDelayed here:



lsolve[r_, q_, a_, eta_] := 
y[x] /. First@DSolve[{y'[x] == r - q*y[x], y[a] == eta}, y[x], x];
nwe = lsolve[x, 2*x, 0, 0] // Simplify



1/2 - E^-x^2/2








share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited Feb 12 at 20:49

























answered Feb 12 at 15:31









Henrik SchumacherHenrik Schumacher

60.3k583169




60.3k583169












  • $begingroup$
    Thanks, I'm glad I asked. Even though my version was syntactically correct, it would have been nice if Mathematica produced a warning!
    $endgroup$
    – Joe Corneli
    Feb 12 at 15:41










  • $begingroup$
    How should Mathematica be able to detect that this does not align with your expectations? Both syntaxes f[x_] = ... and f[x_] := ... have the applications, e.g., the former can be considered as a shorthand for f[x_] := Evaluate[...]. This is usefull whenever a symbolic compuation can already performed at the time of definition so that it need not be redone every time f is called.
    $endgroup$
    – Henrik Schumacher
    Feb 12 at 17:17










  • $begingroup$
    As you said in the answer: "At this point, q does not depend on x." I think Mathematica should be able to tell that I was building an expression that does depend on x and then generate a warning (but certainly not an error) very much along the lines of what you told me. Otherwise everyone who doesn't know about := will end up asking a question similar to mine. How to preempt that and automate your answer? :-)
    $endgroup$
    – Joe Corneli
    Feb 13 at 13:18












  • $begingroup$
    When an assignment is made with =, Mathematica can only set the left hand side to the value of the right hand side at the time of assignment. Evaluate y[x]/.First@DSolve[{y'[x]==r-q*y[x],y[a]==eta},y[x],x] (just in case: in a fresh kernel) and you will see that the result is (E^(-q x) (E^(a q) eta q - E^(a q) r + E^(q x) r))/q. Because Mathematica solves the ODE at this point in time and because q is independent of x. Of course, you may tell Mathematica that q should depend on x by using q[x] instead of q, but I don't think you will like the result either.
    $endgroup$
    – Henrik Schumacher
    Feb 13 at 13:24










  • $begingroup$
    I don't understand what you mean by "automation". The difference between = and := lies in the time of execution of the right hand side. If you want that the ODE is solved only after a precise value of q is supplied, you have to use :=. And yes, there are a lot of questions on the subtle differences of = and := on this site. And I have to admit that was also something that was quite miraculous to me when I started to use the language. It helps a bit to recall that Mathematica, in its core, is nothing else but a term rewriting system.
    $endgroup$
    – Henrik Schumacher
    Feb 13 at 13:28




















  • $begingroup$
    Thanks, I'm glad I asked. Even though my version was syntactically correct, it would have been nice if Mathematica produced a warning!
    $endgroup$
    – Joe Corneli
    Feb 12 at 15:41










  • $begingroup$
    How should Mathematica be able to detect that this does not align with your expectations? Both syntaxes f[x_] = ... and f[x_] := ... have the applications, e.g., the former can be considered as a shorthand for f[x_] := Evaluate[...]. This is usefull whenever a symbolic compuation can already performed at the time of definition so that it need not be redone every time f is called.
    $endgroup$
    – Henrik Schumacher
    Feb 12 at 17:17










  • $begingroup$
    As you said in the answer: "At this point, q does not depend on x." I think Mathematica should be able to tell that I was building an expression that does depend on x and then generate a warning (but certainly not an error) very much along the lines of what you told me. Otherwise everyone who doesn't know about := will end up asking a question similar to mine. How to preempt that and automate your answer? :-)
    $endgroup$
    – Joe Corneli
    Feb 13 at 13:18












  • $begingroup$
    When an assignment is made with =, Mathematica can only set the left hand side to the value of the right hand side at the time of assignment. Evaluate y[x]/.First@DSolve[{y'[x]==r-q*y[x],y[a]==eta},y[x],x] (just in case: in a fresh kernel) and you will see that the result is (E^(-q x) (E^(a q) eta q - E^(a q) r + E^(q x) r))/q. Because Mathematica solves the ODE at this point in time and because q is independent of x. Of course, you may tell Mathematica that q should depend on x by using q[x] instead of q, but I don't think you will like the result either.
    $endgroup$
    – Henrik Schumacher
    Feb 13 at 13:24










  • $begingroup$
    I don't understand what you mean by "automation". The difference between = and := lies in the time of execution of the right hand side. If you want that the ODE is solved only after a precise value of q is supplied, you have to use :=. And yes, there are a lot of questions on the subtle differences of = and := on this site. And I have to admit that was also something that was quite miraculous to me when I started to use the language. It helps a bit to recall that Mathematica, in its core, is nothing else but a term rewriting system.
    $endgroup$
    – Henrik Schumacher
    Feb 13 at 13:28


















$begingroup$
Thanks, I'm glad I asked. Even though my version was syntactically correct, it would have been nice if Mathematica produced a warning!
$endgroup$
– Joe Corneli
Feb 12 at 15:41




$begingroup$
Thanks, I'm glad I asked. Even though my version was syntactically correct, it would have been nice if Mathematica produced a warning!
$endgroup$
– Joe Corneli
Feb 12 at 15:41












$begingroup$
How should Mathematica be able to detect that this does not align with your expectations? Both syntaxes f[x_] = ... and f[x_] := ... have the applications, e.g., the former can be considered as a shorthand for f[x_] := Evaluate[...]. This is usefull whenever a symbolic compuation can already performed at the time of definition so that it need not be redone every time f is called.
$endgroup$
– Henrik Schumacher
Feb 12 at 17:17




$begingroup$
How should Mathematica be able to detect that this does not align with your expectations? Both syntaxes f[x_] = ... and f[x_] := ... have the applications, e.g., the former can be considered as a shorthand for f[x_] := Evaluate[...]. This is usefull whenever a symbolic compuation can already performed at the time of definition so that it need not be redone every time f is called.
$endgroup$
– Henrik Schumacher
Feb 12 at 17:17












$begingroup$
As you said in the answer: "At this point, q does not depend on x." I think Mathematica should be able to tell that I was building an expression that does depend on x and then generate a warning (but certainly not an error) very much along the lines of what you told me. Otherwise everyone who doesn't know about := will end up asking a question similar to mine. How to preempt that and automate your answer? :-)
$endgroup$
– Joe Corneli
Feb 13 at 13:18






$begingroup$
As you said in the answer: "At this point, q does not depend on x." I think Mathematica should be able to tell that I was building an expression that does depend on x and then generate a warning (but certainly not an error) very much along the lines of what you told me. Otherwise everyone who doesn't know about := will end up asking a question similar to mine. How to preempt that and automate your answer? :-)
$endgroup$
– Joe Corneli
Feb 13 at 13:18














$begingroup$
When an assignment is made with =, Mathematica can only set the left hand side to the value of the right hand side at the time of assignment. Evaluate y[x]/.First@DSolve[{y'[x]==r-q*y[x],y[a]==eta},y[x],x] (just in case: in a fresh kernel) and you will see that the result is (E^(-q x) (E^(a q) eta q - E^(a q) r + E^(q x) r))/q. Because Mathematica solves the ODE at this point in time and because q is independent of x. Of course, you may tell Mathematica that q should depend on x by using q[x] instead of q, but I don't think you will like the result either.
$endgroup$
– Henrik Schumacher
Feb 13 at 13:24




$begingroup$
When an assignment is made with =, Mathematica can only set the left hand side to the value of the right hand side at the time of assignment. Evaluate y[x]/.First@DSolve[{y'[x]==r-q*y[x],y[a]==eta},y[x],x] (just in case: in a fresh kernel) and you will see that the result is (E^(-q x) (E^(a q) eta q - E^(a q) r + E^(q x) r))/q. Because Mathematica solves the ODE at this point in time and because q is independent of x. Of course, you may tell Mathematica that q should depend on x by using q[x] instead of q, but I don't think you will like the result either.
$endgroup$
– Henrik Schumacher
Feb 13 at 13:24












$begingroup$
I don't understand what you mean by "automation". The difference between = and := lies in the time of execution of the right hand side. If you want that the ODE is solved only after a precise value of q is supplied, you have to use :=. And yes, there are a lot of questions on the subtle differences of = and := on this site. And I have to admit that was also something that was quite miraculous to me when I started to use the language. It helps a bit to recall that Mathematica, in its core, is nothing else but a term rewriting system.
$endgroup$
– Henrik Schumacher
Feb 13 at 13:28






$begingroup$
I don't understand what you mean by "automation". The difference between = and := lies in the time of execution of the right hand side. If you want that the ODE is solved only after a precise value of q is supplied, you have to use :=. And yes, there are a lot of questions on the subtle differences of = and := on this site. And I have to admit that was also something that was quite miraculous to me when I started to use the language. It helps a bit to recall that Mathematica, in its core, is nothing else but a term rewriting system.
$endgroup$
– Henrik Schumacher
Feb 13 at 13:28




















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