Vocabulary/Inverses
Inverses
Inverse and Obverse
The inverse of a function f is a function that undoes the effect of f.
The obverse of a verb u is usually the inverse of u, except that you may assign an obverse using Obverse (u :. v).
The obverse of v is executed when you use v^:_1 or u&.v or u&.:v.
You can see the obverse of u by executing u b. _1
+/\ 2 1 1 1 NB. +/\ = running total 2 3 4 5 +/\ b. _1 NB. You can see its inverse (- |.!.0) :.(+/\) +/\^:_1 (2 3 4 5) NB. It works! 2 1 1 1
Most obverses work only for the monadic valence
2 +/\ 2 3 4 5 5 7 9 2 +/\^:_1 (5 7 9) |domain error | 2 +/\^:_1(5 7 9)
Inverses may be defined for the dyadic valence, but you have to find these by trial and error.
Predefined Obverses
Obverses Of Primitives
The obverses of primitives are shown in the following table
Predefined Obverses In J Prim. Inverse Prim. Inverse Prim. Inverse Prim. Inverse + self-inverse %: *: m&%: ^&m ^.&n %:&n - ^ ^. m&^ m&^. ,&n }: -. ^. ^ m&^. m&^ {&n n&i. % ,: {. m&|. (-m)&|. j.&n -&(j. n) %. ;: }:@;@(,&' '&.>"1) m&|: (] |:~ m C.^:_1 i.@#@$) p..&n p.. |. #. #: m&, }. r.&n %&(2 1 o. n) |: #: #. m&#: m&#. +~ -: /: \: /:@|. m&{ not defined *~ %: [ {. ,: m&}. ({.~ -@(m&+)@#) ,~ <.@-:@# {. ] ] ". ": m&A. (/:@(m&A.)@(i.@#) { ]) ,:~ {. C. ": ". m&C. (/:@(m&C.)@(i.@#) { ]) ;~ >@{. p. j. 0j_1&* m&i. {&m j.~ 0.5j_0.5&* < > o. 1p_1&* m&j. 0j_1&*@(-&m) */ q: <: >: q: */ m&p.. p.. =/\ (= |.!.1) > < r. %&0j1@^. m&r. %&0j1@^.@(%&m) +/\ (- |.!.0) >: <: u: 3&u: +&n (-n)&+ */\ (% |.!.1) +. j./"1"_ x: _1&x: *&n (%n)&* -/\ ((- |.!.0) *"_1 $&1 _1@#) +: -: m&+ (-m)&+ -&n n&+ %/\ ((% |.!.1) ^"_1 $&1 _1@#) *. r./"1"_ m&* (%m)&* %&n n&* ~:/\ (~: |.!.0) *: %: m&- m&- %:&n ^.&n ({ =)
Boolean
perm.
matrixi."1&1
integer
perm
vector-: +: m&% m&% ^&n n&%: I. (+/ @:(=/ i.@>:@(>./)@(0&,))) ^~ 3 : '(--&b@(*^.)%>:@^.)^:_]1>.b=.^.y'"0 !&n 3 : '(-(!&n-y"_)%0.001&*!&n"0 D:1])^:_[1>.{.@/:"1|y-/(i.!])n' ! 3 : '(-(!-y"_)%0.001&*!"0 D:1])^:_<.&170^:(-:+)^.y' m&#. ($&m@>:@(m&(<.@^.))@(1&>.)@(>./)@:|@, #: ]) m&! 3 : '(-(m&!-y"_)%0.001&*m&!"0 D:1])^:_[m&<@|@{:}m,:m%:y*!m' p: The number of primes less than y
Obverses Of Combinations
If any obverses are defined for u and v, they will be used to define obverses for u@v, u@:v, u&v, and u&:v.
The inverse of u"n is defined as (u^:_1)"n, which may not give desired results if the result cells of u do not have the same rank as u.
Special Obverses
Some of the obverses are among the gems of J. They can be accessed indirectly through u&.v, where they apply v's obverse after u; or directly using ^:_1. What follows is a catalog of operations that are easy to express as obverses, difficult otherwise. It's not complete! If you find yourself needing, say, the inverse gamma function, see if !^:_1 does what you want.
Spaces Between Words ;:^:_1
If y is a list of boxed words, put the words into a sentence with ;:^:_1
]a =: 'Three';'rather-short';'words' +-----+------------+-----+ |Three|rather-short|words| +-----+------------+-----+ ;:^:_1 a Three rather-short words
Convert to fixed base x #.^:_1
x #: y has the quirk that x specifies exactly how many places of the representation of y will be retained. Often you want as many repetitions of base x as necessary, no more or less. That's a job for #.^:_1
5 #: 127 NB. This gives only 1 place... 2 5 #.^:_1 (127) NB. ... but this uses as many places as needed 1 0 0 2
Note that #.^:_1 is one of those obverses that has a dyadic valence. The inverse of the dyad cannot be calculated by #. b. _1, which gives the inverse of the monad.
Expand #^:_1
1 0 1 #^:_1 'ab' a b
In the example above, 1 0 1 # 'a b' would select from 'a b' to produce 'ab'. #^:_1 does the reverse: it inserts fill into y to expand it so that the items of y correspond to 1s in x. For this to be possible, x must be Boolean and there must be exactly as many 1s in x as there are items in y. The fill can be set by !.f
1 0 1 0 1 #^:_1 'ab' NB. Can't expand 2 items to 3 1s... |length error | 1 0 1 0 1 #^:_1'ab' 1 0 1 0 1 #^:_1 'abc' NB. ...but 3 items is OK a b c 1 0 1 0 1 #^:_1!.'*' 'abc' NB. Fill can be specified a*b*c
Note that #^:_1 is one of those obverses that has a dyadic valence. The inverse of the dyad cannot be calculated by # b. _1, which gives the inverse of the monad.
Quirk: x must be a list (a single atom is not allowed).
Primes Below y p:^:_1
The yth prime is p: y, so the number of primes below y (known to mathematicians as π(y)) is p:^:_1 y
p:^:_1 (60) 17
Frequencies of Integers I.^:_1
The obverse of I. is generalized to accept any nonnegative integral y, and returns the result as if y were sorted into ascending order. The atom with index i gives the number of occurrences of i in y.
I.^:_1 ] 3 1 4 1 5 9 0 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1
Oddities
1. u b. _1 gives the obverse for the monadic valence.
In some cases the obverse supports the dyadic valence using a different verb. There is no general way to see what this different verb is, but you may be able to get a clue by seeing what the inverse of m&v or u&n is.
+ b. _1 NB. The declared obverse of + is +... + 4 +^:_1 (6) NB. But it doesn't apply to the dyad 2 4&+ b. _1 NB. The dyadic obverse actually does this: _4&+
#. b. _1 NB. #: is the obverse, but only for the monad: #: 4 #: 66 NB. different... 2 4 (#.^:_1) ] 66 NB. ... results for dyad 1 0 0 2 4&#. b. _1 NB. The dyadic obverse actually looks like this: ($&4@>:@(4&(<.@^.))@(1&>.)@(>./)@:|@, #: ]) :.(4&#.)
2. The obverse of an obverse is always the original function, regardless of how the intermediate obverses are defined.