Date: Sat, 6 Dec 1997 09:20:56 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199712061420.JAA26231@locke.ccil.org> Reply-To: bob@rattlesnake.com Sender: Lojban list From: bob@MEGALITH.RATTLESNAKE.COM Subject: Re: truthvalues (was Re: ni, jei, perfectionism) X-To: LOJBAN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU To: John Cowan In-Reply-To: <39E66745CC@mail-gw.uclan.ac.uk> (message from And Rosta on Fri, 5 Dec 1997 18:04:54 GMT+0) Status: O X-Mozilla-Status: 0011 Content-Length: 726 X-From-Space-Date: Sat Dec 6 09:21:04 1997 X-From-Space-Address: LOJBAN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU > The truth value of a preoposition is a number, yes. But it ... > does not have the properties of the common mathematical number > sets ... It is not transitive, ... Being a bit nitpicky: The truth value isn't a number. If it was, then you could do all that mathsy stuff with it. Yet more nitpickyness: the mathematician who taught me analysis considered a value on a scale to be a number. A matter of definition. A number on scale is one kind of number; there are other kinds, too, like integers or reals. And there are different kinds of scale -- we discussed this last year. Look up `certainty factor' for an example of another type number on a scale that behaves differently than a truth value.