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use(Ring) -- install ring variables and ring operations

Synopsis

Description

When a ring (or a monoid) is assigned to a global variable, this function is automatically called for it.

It is possible to have several polynomial rings defined, perhaps with a variable belonging to several rings.
i1 : R = QQ[a..d]

o1 = R

o1 : PolynomialRing
i2 : S = QQ[b,c,d,e]

o2 = S

o2 : PolynomialRing
i3 : b

o3 = b

o3 : S
At this point, b is thought to be a variable of S. If one typed a+b, an error would occur, since Macaulay2 doesn't know how to add elements of R and S together. This is fixed via:
i4 : use R

o4 = R

o4 : PolynomialRing
i5 : b

o5 = b

o5 : R
i6 : a+b

o6 = a + b

o6 : R

There are several functions that create rings for you. Generally, their variables are not globally visible. However, once you 'use' the ring, the variables are available.For example, the numerator of the Hilbert function is a polynomial in a ring with a variable T.
i7 : T

o7 = T

o7 : Symbol
i8 : hf = poincare ideal vars S

                2     3    4
o8 = 1 - 4T + 6T  - 4T  + T

o8 : ZZ[T]
i9 : T

o9 = T

o9 : Symbol
i10 : use ring hf

o10 = ZZ[T]

o10 : PolynomialRing
i11 : T

o11 = T

o11 : Symbol

Caveat

Any values stored in the variables that have been assigned to are lost, hence this operation should not be used by code in a package.

See also

Ways to use this method: