Return-Path: Received: by snark.thyrsus.com (/\==/\ Smail3.1.21.1 #21.19) id ; Fri, 6 Mar 92 14:14 EST Received: by cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com (5.57/UUCP-Project/Commodore 2/8/91) id AA01230; Fri, 6 Mar 92 14:11:07 EST Received: from cunixf.cc.columbia.edu by relay1.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AA06632; Wed, 4 Mar 92 22:21:54 -0500 Received: from cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu by cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (5.59/FCB) id AA13369; Wed, 4 Mar 92 20:55:26 EST Message-Id: <9203050155.AA13369@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> Received: from CUVMB.COLUMBIA.EDU by CUVMB.COLUMBIA.EDU (IBM VM SMTP R1.2.1) with BSMTP id 6312; Wed, 04 Mar 92 20:53:21 EST Received: by CUVMB (Mailer R2.07) id 1219; Wed, 04 Mar 92 20:51:24 EST Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1992 12:31:47 GMT Reply-To: CJ FINE Sender: Lojban list From: CJ FINE Subject: Re: Billions X-To: cowan@snark.thyrsus.com X-Cc: Lojban list To: John Cowan , Eric Raymond , Eric Tiedemann In-Reply-To: ; from "John Cowan" at Feb 12, 92 12:52 pm Status: RO X-From-Space-Date: Fri Mar 6 14:14:54 1992 X-From-Space-Address: cbmvax!uunet!CUVMA.BITNET!LOJBAN Thus John Cowan: > > Actually, 3 times 10 to the 15th power is incredibly terse in Lojban: > > pa mu gei ci > one five [scientific] three > I was pleased to see this, which is not in any published material I have seen. Fascinatingly, I just today discovered a letter in Scientific American, November 1970, in which Richard Feynman, no less, was advocating such a system for English! He wanted to write that as 3(sub)+15, read as "three plofifteen". 3E-15 would be "three mififteen"! kolin c.j.fine@bradford.ac.uk