# Problem with PiecewiseExpand?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Questions\ **Tags:** mathematica, logic\ **Created:** [September 8, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://community.wolfram.com/t/problem-with-piecewiseexpand/516 "2013-09-08T21:21:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dknbok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dknbok](https://community.wolfram.com/u/dknbok)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://community.wolfram.com/t/problem-with-piecewiseexpand/516/1 "2013-09-08T21:21:20Z")
In the following code, it seems that f2 evaluates incorrectly, but f1 & f3 evaluate correctly - even though f3 is generated from f2. It might not be handling the strings correctly (e.g., “Yes”)? Maybe there is something subtle here I’m missing. I know how to work around this problem, but it doesn’t seem I should need a workaround and it makes me wary of PiecewiseExpand. ```auto f1=Piecewise[{{Piecewise[{{a1, x == "Yes"}, {a2, x == "No"}}, 0], y == "Yes"}, {b, y == "No"}}] f2=f1//PiecewiseExpand f3=f2//FullSimplify Table[{f1,f2,f3},{x,{"Yes","No"}},{y,{"Yes","No"}}]//TableForm ``` Thanks for any comments. ---
**Author:** ![brucem](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/wolfram/user_avatar/community.wolfram.com/brucem/32/26319_2.png) [@brucem](https://community.wolfram.com/u/brucem)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 1:21am UTC](https://community.wolfram.com/t/problem-with-piecewiseexpand/516/2 "2013-09-09T01:21:55Z")
To save 100 people having to fire up their Mathematicas, in f2, the conditions are re-ordered to look like it is doing arithmetic with character strings. ```auto In[2]:= f2=f1//PiecewiseExpand Out[2]= Piecewise[{ {a1, Yes - y == 0 && Yes - x == 0}, {a2, Yes - y == 0 && No - x == 0}, {0, No - y != 0 || Yes - y == 0}}, b] ``` FullSimplify or Simplify changes them back to looking like tests, “{a1, Yes == y && Yes == x}” . Worthy of a suggestion tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![dknbok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dknbok](https://community.wolfram.com/u/dknbok)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 2:05am UTC](https://community.wolfram.com/t/problem-with-piecewiseexpand/516/3 "2013-09-09T02:05:56Z")
Thanks for the comments Bruce. Yes, the expansion does appear to try to do arithmetic with a string & that might be a problem with PiecewiseExpand. My real concern is that the results for f2 are actually wrong (execute the “Table” line of code,) - on my computer anyway. Maybe it is because the logic is expanded incorrectly (assumes only Reals maybe??). Curiously, once simplification is applied, these errors seem to be corrected. Makes me hesitant to use PiecewiseExpand. ---
**Author:** ![brucem](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/wolfram/user_avatar/community.wolfram.com/brucem/32/26319_2.png) [@brucem](https://community.wolfram.com/u/brucem)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://community.wolfram.com/t/problem-with-piecewiseexpand/516/4 "2013-09-09T17:16:50Z")
You are right. Since Equals cannot figure out -“No” + “Yes” ==0, this Piecewise is stuck. ```auto In[4]:= f2 /. {x->"No", y->"Yes"} Out[4]= \[Piecewise] a1 -No+Yes==0 a2 True ``` I sent a problem report on this to developers. If it is expected behavior, then the documentation needs clarification. ---
**Author:** ![brucem](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/wolfram/user_avatar/community.wolfram.com/brucem/32/26319_2.png) [@brucem](https://community.wolfram.com/u/brucem)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://community.wolfram.com/t/problem-with-piecewiseexpand/516/5 "2013-09-09T22:41:31Z")
Turns out there is a reason for this odd behavior. A Kernel developer told me, ==== Symbolic computation functions treat expressions with head Equal as numeric equations and consider non-numeric expressions that appear in equations as symbolic parameters, even if those expressions are strings, pictures, Boolean constants, etc. ```auto In[5]:= Solve[x=="Yes" && x+y==Graphics[Circle[]] && x z==True, {x, y, z}] True Out[5]= {{x -> Yes, y -> -Yes + -Graphics-, z -> ----}} Yes ``` ==== Making PiecewiseExpand, Solve, etc, look inside expressions with “==” for non-numerical items opens up a large box of special cases and potential conflicts. In your example, using (Full)Simplify on the PiecewiseExpand output is probably the easiest workaround. There are things one could do with Hold or HoldForm. There isn’t a StringEquals function, but StringMatchQ could be used if keeping strings from being treated as parameters is critical. ```auto In[1]:= $Version Out[1]= 9.0 for Mac OS X x86 (64-bit) (January 24, 2013) In[2]:= f1=Piecewise[{{Piecewise[{{a1,StringMatchQ[x,"Yes"]}, {a2, StringMatchQ[x,"No"]}},0], StringMatchQ[y,"Yes"]},{b,StringMatchQ[y,"No"]}}] StringMatchQ::strse: String or list of strings expected at position 1 in StringMatchQ[y,Yes]. >> StringMatchQ::strse: String or list of strings expected at position 1 in StringMatchQ[x,Yes]. >> StringMatchQ::strse: String or list of strings expected at position 1 in StringMatchQ[x,No]. >> General::stop: Further output of StringMatchQ::strse will be suppressed during this calculation. >> Out[2]= \[Piecewise] \[Piecewise] a1 StringMatchQ[x,Yes] a2 StringMatchQ[x,No] StringMatchQ[y,Yes] 0 True b StringMatchQ[y,No] 0 True In[3]:= f2= PiecewiseExpand[f1] Out[3]= \[Piecewise] a1 StringMatchQ[y,Yes]&&StringMatchQ[x,Yes] a2 StringMatchQ[y,Yes]&&StringMatchQ[x,No] 0 !StringMatchQ[y,No]||StringMatchQ[y,Yes] b True In[4]:= f2 /. {x->"No", y->"Yes"} Out[4]= a2 ``` The warning messages after In[2] can be prevented by evaluating ```auto Off[StringMatchQ::strse] ``` beforehand. ---
**Author:** ![dknbok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dknbok](https://community.wolfram.com/u/dknbok)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://community.wolfram.com/t/problem-with-piecewiseexpand/516/6 "2013-09-11T01:44:36Z")
Thanks for the research Bruce. I see that StringMatchQ makes things work. I’m using a structure like this in a derivative calculation of an ODE being solved using DSolve in a Dynamic environment with sliders, SetterBars, etc. So far I’ve only gotten NDSolve to give correct numerical results. DSolve doesn’t seem to like nested Piecewise equations. I’m ok with the NDSolve version & will work on the more esthetically pleasing version in my spare time. Thanks again for the help.