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I've a (perhaps too) basic questions that has been bugging me for a while. Manipulate seems to ignore global assignments. For instance the following does not result in the obvious output one would expect:

a = x*b;
Manipulate[Plot[a, {x, 0, 1}], {b, 1, 2}].

Instead, to had a 45 degree line, one had to redefine the a object within manipulation:

Manipulate[x*b;Plot[a, {x, 0, 1}], {b, 1, 2}].

Is there a way to have Manipulate to use the global assignment a=x*b? Thanks!!

Kuba
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Emilio Calvano
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  • No always but often you can find interesting facts in Details & Options part for given function. For Manipulate below the table with options there is a bullet: Manipulate generates a DynamicModule object, with the variables u, v, etc. specified as local. – Kuba Sep 13 '13 at 15:09
  • Try making a snapshot of your Manipulate and you will see what is going on. – Yves Klett Sep 13 '13 at 15:53

1 Answers1

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When you introduced {b, 1, 2} as a control, you made b a local variable that shadows your global b. Two possible fixes are:

Manipulate[a := x b; Plot[a, {x, 0, 1}], {b, 1, 2}]

or

Manipulate[Plot[a[x, b], {x, 0, 1}],
  {b, 1, 2},
  Initialization :> (a[x_, b_] := x b)]
m_goldberg
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