From a.rosta@lycos.co.uk Sat Nov 09 03:07:44 2002 Return-Path: X-Sender: lojban-out@lojban.org X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_2_3_0); 9 Nov 2002 11:07:44 -0000 Received: (qmail 87019 invoked from network); 9 Nov 2002 11:07:44 -0000 Received: from unknown (66.218.66.218) by m3.grp.scd.yahoo.com with QMQP; 9 Nov 2002 11:07:44 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO digitalkingdom.org) (204.152.186.175) by mta3.grp.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; 9 Nov 2002 11:07:44 -0000 Received: from lojban-out by digitalkingdom.org with local (Exim 4.05) id 18ATSq-0004n9-00 for lojban@yahoogroups.com; Sat, 09 Nov 2002 03:07:44 -0800 Received: from digitalkingdom.org ([204.152.186.175] helo=chain) by digitalkingdom.org with esmtp (Exim 4.05) id 18ATSj-0004ms-00; Sat, 09 Nov 2002 03:07:37 -0800 Received: with ECARTIS (v1.0.0; list lojban-list); Sat, 09 Nov 2002 03:07:36 -0800 (PST) Received: from mrin01.spray.se ([212.78.193.7] helo=mrin01.st1.spray.net) by digitalkingdom.org with esmtp (Exim 4.05) id 18ATSe-0004mf-00 for lojban-list@lojban.org; Sat, 09 Nov 2002 03:07:32 -0800 Received: from lmin01.st1.spray.net (lmin01.st1.spray.net [212.78.202.101]) by mrin01.st1.spray.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 587A01E98E2 for ; Sat, 9 Nov 2002 12:07:00 +0100 (CET) Received: from oemcomputer (host213-121-66-137.surfport24.v21.co.uk [213.121.66.137]) by lmin01.st1.spray.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2D3FB1D463 for ; Sat, 9 Nov 2002 12:06:59 +0100 (MET) To: Subject: [lojban] Re: partial recantation in favour of solomonics Date: Sat, 9 Nov 2002 11:08:52 -0000 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0) Importance: Normal In-Reply-To: <200211082247.RAA07521@mail2.reutershealth.com> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 X-archive-position: 2568 X-ecartis-version: Ecartis v1.0.0 Sender: lojban-list-bounce@lojban.org Errors-to: lojban-list-bounce@lojban.org X-original-sender: a.rosta@lycos.co.uk Precedence: bulk X-list: lojban-list From: "And Rosta" Reply-To: a.rosta@lycos.co.uk X-Yahoo-Group-Post: member; u=122260811 X-Yahoo-Profile: andjamin John: > Invent Yourself scripsit: > > > > On Fri, 8 Nov 2002, And Rosta wrote: > > > > > But I think we also would like to be able to say > > > truthfully that "50% of unicorns are male". > > I think that in the Real World, where there are no unicorns, this > statement can't be sustained. Simply put, the number of unicorns is > zero and the number of male unicorns is zero, so the fraction of > male unicorns is 0/0, which is an indeterminate value. (Anything > times zero is zero, so reversing the operation, dividing a zero product > by its zero multiplier, gives us a multiplier which can be anything.) > > We must move into a world in which there are unicorns in order to get > the effect you want. BTW, in the U.S. at least, males constitute only > 48.9% of the human population. That's a deficiency of about three million > > > And you should probably > > read and meditate on what I closed message 17044 with, which shows why > > "50% of unicorns are male" is always a valid statement > > If I say that two male unicorns exist on average for every female, > how would you in principle refute me? By taking you to where the unicorns are, and counting them? But actually I think you and me and xod agree. Provided we indicate the world where unicorns exist, everybody's happy. --And.