Plotting 2d vector fields – how to delay function evaluation
I want to plot, for example, the following 2d vector field: $$\vec{F}(x,y)= \begin{cases} (0.1,0.1), & \text{for }r\le d_{min}\newline \frac{\vec{r}}{r^3}, & \text{otherwise}. \end{cases}$$ In one SageMath cell I have defined corresponding Python function:
reset()
dmin = 0.03
def my_vector_field_2D(x,y):
vector_field = vector([0.1,0.1])
r = vector([x,y])
if r.norm()>dmin:
vector_field = 1/ r.norm()^3 * r
return vector_field
In another cell, I use function plot_vector_field
to plot the field:
var('x','y')
plot_vector_field(my_vector_field_2D(x,y),(x,-0.3,0.3),(y,-0.3,0.3))
However, function my_vector_field_2D(x,y) is evaluated before it is given to the function plot_vector_field
and because in this evaluation my_vector_field_2D receives instead of numbers symbolic variables x
and y
, expression r.norm()>dmin
is always False
. As a result, my_vector_field_2D(x,y) is evalueted to: (0.100000000000000, 0.100000000000000). So the plotted filed is actually $\vec{F}(x,y)=(0.1,0.1)$ everywhere and that is not what I want.
How can I prevent this function evaluation?
I tried something that works with the plot
function (provide the plot
function with just the name of a function that you want to plot (without parameters) in order to prevent function evaluation):
plot_vector_field(my_vector_field_2D,(-0.3,0.3),(-0.3,0.3))
But here this method does not work: TypeError: 'function' object is not iterable.
My first why question: Why this does not work? It works for plot
function and also for contour_plot
function and probably for some other plot functions.
Then I found in the SageMath documentation that “when plotting non-symbolic functions, they should be wrapped in lambda
”. So I tried:
plot_vector_field(lambda x,y:my_vector_field_2D(x,y),(-0.3,0.3),(-0.3,0.3))
And the same error popped up: TypeError: 'function' object is not iterable.
But this works:
plot_vector_field((lambda x,y:my_vector_field_2D(x,y)[0],lambda x,y:my_vector_field_2D(x,y)[1]),(-0.3,0.3),(-0.3,0.3))
My second why question: Why do I need two lambda
functions or why do I need to manually decompose vector returned by my_vector_field_2D function into its two components?