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FullForm of Plot?

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dsmithy

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Jul 2, 2009, 7:13:27 AM7/2/09
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I know this is kind of a technical question, but I'd like to have a
clearer understanding of this if someone is willing to help. A Plot
expression Plot[f,List[x,xmin,xmax]] itself appears to be in FullForm.
Yet, its FullForm is actually a Graphics expression. I understand that
all graphics in Mathematica have the FullForm head Graphics (or
Graphics3D), and that apparently curved plots (like Sin) are actually
groupings of graphics primitives (Lines). But my question is, if the
FullForm of a Plot expression is actually Graphics[List[Line
[...],...] ], then what Mathematica *form* are Plot expressions
themselves considered to be in (if not FullForm)?
Thanks

David Bailey

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Jul 8, 2009, 7:09:55 AM7/8/09
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Well this is certainly the right place to ask technical questions :)

The point is that an expression written out in FullForm can still
evaluate to something else. If you write

<expression> //FullForm

the expression will be evaluated and the result displayed in FullForm.

To see the FullForm of the original expression, try:

<expression> //Hold //FullForm

ignoring the extra layer of Hold[...] wrapped round the result.

David Bailey
http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk

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