Answer by Mr.Wizard for Why x = x doesn't cause an infinite loop, but f[x_]...
I am not sure there is a more factual answer to this kind of question than saying "it is what it is." Nevertheless it is more satisfying to have hypotheses for such things.Daniel Lichtblau says in...
View ArticleAnswer by Jacob Akkerboom for Why x = x doesn't cause an infinite loop, but...
Extended commentFirst of all, I think there is no easy answer to this question.Let me collect my examples in an answer, in order to provide some structure in them as well as not to flood the comments....
View ArticleAnswer by brown.2179 for Why x = x doesn't cause an infinite loop, but f[x_]...
When you define a function you are defining a rule. This is covered in Ch. 4.1 of Paul Wellin's book Programming with Mathematica. For example, when you define f[x_] := x^3 what this says is whenever f...
View ArticleWhy x = x doesn't cause an infinite loop, but f[x_] := f[x] does?
If I execute:In[1] := x = xOut[1] = xand then I evaluate the symbol x:In[2] := xOut[2] = xit simply returns x itself. I don't understand why this doesn't result in an infinite loop. Given that x...
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