Re: Is zero even or odd?
From: George Dishman (george_at_briar.demon.co.uk)
Date: 12/31/04
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Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 12:36:59 -0000
"Michael Mendelsohn" <invalid@msgid.michael.mendelsohn.de> wrote in message
news:41D53D2A.A82927E6@msgid.michael.mendelsohn.de...
> George Dishman schrieb:
>> "Nicholas O. Lindan" <see@sig.com> wrote in message
>> > Saying the reading is k * 0 carries _a priori_ information
>> > through to the final answer.
>> >
>> > As an example. Joe and I are electricians. At the shift
>> > change I tell Joe that the present measurement is I = 0, V = 0.
>> > After I have left Joe needs to extrapolate what happens
>> > at 1 amp and he can't.
>> >
>> > If I tell Joe that the current reading is 0 amps
>> > and 33*0 volts, then Joe can predict the voltage
>> > at 1 amp.
>>
>> Joe cannot predict it because you didn't tell him
>> what current you used.
>
> Yes, he can.
>
> A mathematician would've written the information that Nick told Joe as
> current = 0
> voltage = 33 * current
If he wrote that, there wouldn't be a problem but
that is the same as my version that you snipped:
> > Then you can tell him the resistance is 33 ohms
> The latter formula yields a voltage for any current.
>
> For Joe to correctly deduce this from Nick's information, he just has to
> be familiar with Nick's idiosyncrasies.
>
>> Regardless, you cannot change the rules of maths
>> on a whim and since you can talk of resistance in
>> this example, there is no need.
>
> He is changing the way he writes down mathematical facts to put him
> outside the mainstream, which means people will misunderstand him,
He is going beyond that when he writes
k * 0 <> 0
if by that he means that the product of a finite
number and zero is _not_equal_to_ zero.
> resulting in arguments whenever this occurs. This is the reason why most
> people keep to standards when writing things down - to things with
> well-accepted meanings.
Agreed. the above equation doesn't mean what is
seems to say, it could mean anything at all.
George
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