lower case i vs. imaginary unit

[Alberto Candel]

in CAS the lower case i (alpha tan) returns the complex i (shift 2). They are different things.

[Angus]

I'd say i is a reserved name no matter how you type it.
Shift+2 however could have been saved then for an other function you have alpha+tan available with the same number of keystrokes, agreed.

[Alberto Candel]

(07-17-2014 05:02 AM)Angus Wrote:  I'd say i is a reserved name no matter how you type it.
Shift+2 however could have been saved then for an other function you have alpha+tan available with the same number of keystrokes, agreed.

Hi, I am afraid I have to disagree with you, given that the Prime uses different fonts for the lowercase i and the imaginary unit i.

By the way, you should try out all possible combinations of p and i (lower and upper, forward and backward).

[Angus]

That is commonly found behaviour you often see in the calculator. You type in something, the prime modifies it and plots something else in the history.
Type in i^2 you get -1 and the i in different font... It can happen to commands aswell. It could also modify something to something else that it gives a syntax error. (don't nail me on that I cannot remember what it was)

I did not say I like that or that it is what I desire. Not at all. Things are just that way. Only hp could answer if it is a side-effect of the code mixture or wanted behaviour.

(the used font is independant of the character for me. Since 'i' is a reserved variable I am not surprised it does not work as a variable. I do agree with hp on that)


edit: you know, I was taught the hard way that by using the display modes introduced in the latest firmware, you need some pragmas in your program code in order to work after being transferred. You can also change the comma key into a semi-colon in editors... Hard to say WHAT is happening, harder to say why it needs to happen with a newly introduced feature - fact is it is happening. Maybe there is something wrong with character/keyboard/parsing, maybe students just don't care about such things nowadays.