Re: how do you say x' in english?

Philo D <doozy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> Eh? In my experience (UK), x' is "x-prime" or "x-primed"; if you get carried
>> away with your topic, you might want "x-double-prime" and "x-treble-prime". I
>> would say "x dash" is misleading because dash is "-".
>>
>
> Some say that, since "prime" means "first", it is illogical to say
> "double prime". So it should be pronounced:
> x' x prime
> x'' x second
> x''' x third

I've always heard these pronounced (in the US) as:

x' x prime
x'' x prime prime
x''' x prime prime prime

which, I must confess, always seemed weird to me. Your "second" and
"third" seem preferable, and that's what I intend to use henceforth.

--
Wayne Brown (HPCC #1104) | "When your tail's in a crack, you improvise
fwbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxx | if you're good enough. Otherwise you give
| your pelt to the trapper."
"e^(i*pi) = -1" -- Euler | -- John Myers Myers, "Silverlock"
.

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