From CHandley@GANDALF.OTAGO.AC.NZ Wed Jul 28 19:23:04 1993 Received: from YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU by MINERVA.CIS.YALE.EDU via SMTP; Wed, 28 Jul 1993 19:23:03 -0400 Received: from YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU by YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 5551; Wed, 28 Jul 93 19:21:52 EDT Received: from YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU (NJE origin LISTSERV@YALEVM) by YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU (LMail V1.1d/1.7f) with BSMTP id 7997; Wed, 28 Jul 1993 19:21:52 -0400 Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1993 11:26:12 GMT+1200 Reply-To: Chris Handley Sender: Lojban list From: Chris Handley Organization: University of Otago Subject: Re: Integers To: Erik Rauch Status: RO X-Status: Message-ID: More comments >Comments on some of the comments: > > > >milna'u mulno namcu integer (whole-number) > > > > copies the common metaphor. But the significance of that metaphor > > is lost to most people - it is I think the contrast with fractional > > hence perhaps no'e frinu namcu (they aren't really non-fractional > > since they can be expressed fractionally) or na'e pagbu namcu > > > Please, not {no'e frinu}. That can be nothing but irrational, i.e. >non-rational, not a fraction. > > And how is {na'e pagbu} clearer than {mulno} ? As far as most ordinary people are concerned, integers are much the same as counting numbers. I realise this has problems with zero and the negatives, but a metaphor including counting would probably be pretty clear. ====================================================================== Chris Handley chandley@otago.ac.nz Dept of Computer Science Ph (+64) 3-479-8499 University of Otago Fax (+64) 3-479-8577 Dunedin, NZ ______________________________________________________________________ There are three types of Computer Scientist: those who can count and those who can't.