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3. Verbs and Adverbs

In the sentence %a of Section 2, the % “acts upon” a to produce a result, and %a is therefore analogous to the notion in English of a verb acting upon a noun or pronoun. We will hereafter adopt the term verb instead of (or in addition to) the mathematical term function used thus far.

The sentence +/ 1 2 3 4 is equivalent to 1+2+3+4; the adverb / applies to its verb argument + to produce a new verb whose argument is 1 2 3 4, and which is defined by inserting the verb + between the items of its argument. Other arguments of the insert adverb are treated similarly:
   */b=:2 7 1 8 2 8
1792

   <./b
1

   >./b
8
The verb resulting from the application of an adverb may (like a primitive verb) have both monadic and dyadic cases; due to its two uses, the adverb / is called either insert or table. In the present instance of / the dyadic case produces a table. For example:
   2 3 5 +/ 0 1 2 3 
2 3 4 5
3 4 5 6
5 6 7 8
The verbs over=:({.;}.)@":@, and by=:' '&;@,.@[,.] can be entered as utilities (for use rather than for immediate study), and can clarify the interpretation of function tables such as the addition table produced above. For example:
   a=: 2 3 5
   b=: 0 1 2 3

   a by b over a +/ b
+-+-------+
| |0 1 2 3|
+-+-------+
|2|2 3 4 5|
|3|3 4 5 6|
|5|5 6 7 8|
+-+-------+
   b by b over b </ b
+-+-------+
| |0 1 2 3|
+-+-------+
|0|0 1 1 1|
|1|0 0 1 1|
|2|0 0 0 1|
|3|0 0 0 0|
+-+-------+

Exercises

3.1   Enter d=: i.5 and the sentences st=: d-/d and pt=: d^/d to produce function tables for subtraction and power.
 
3.2   Make tables for further functions from previous sections, including the relations < and = and > and lesser-of and greater-of.
 
3.3   Apply the verbs |. and |: to various tables, and try to state what they do.
 
3.4   The transpose function |: changes the subtraction table, but appears to have no effect on the multiplication table. State the property of those functions whose tables remain unchanged when transposed.

Answer: They are commutative
 
3.5   Enter d by d over d!/d and state the definition of the dyad ! .

Answer: ! is the binomial coefficient or outof function; 3!5 is the number of ways that three things can be chosen from five.




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