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4.7.2 Adding more definitions Let us now add another definition to our function, so that it will give 2 on every even number :
Check now :
We see that nothing changed - it does not work (It is interesting that the result is correct in version 6). The reason can be seen by looking at function definitions:
By the way, the question mark in this context means the Information command, and returns the information contained in the global rule base on a given symbol (section 2.2.2). We see that the reason for the above behavior is that Mathematica was able to figure out that the pattern f[x_Integer?EvenQ] is more specific than the pattern f[x_], but unable to figure out that it is also more specific than f[x_Integer] (this refers to versions prior to 6.0. In 6.0, the pattern-matcher does figure out the latter fact as well). The simplest thing one can do is to redefine the function, by placing definitions in a different order:
Check now :
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