Scuba dove? Scuba dived?

[NudeDiver]

Actually there is a lot of room for variations. By changing the space the operations are done in you can get different results. For a quick example 2 + 2 = 10 is valid if I'm working in base 4.

Did I say I was changing operational space? Did I say I was using any other base besides 10? Did I list the little subscript for to indicate base 4? No.

For the English is not math folks....I'm sorry you missed it.

 

[E.C.Hansen]

Umm... Dove aint wrong, but dived aint wrong either.

Maybe its an accent/dialect kind of thing. Seriously, I had to stop and e-mail that Hitler vid to my retired teacher parents!

Eric

 

[mikemill]

Did I say I was changing operational space? Did I say I was using any other base besides 10? Did I list the little subscript for to indicate base 4? No.

For the English is not math folks....I'm sorry you missed it.

But you didn't specify which space you were operating in. So I'm free to assume whatever the heck I want.

Now since I'm not that big of a jackass if someone wrote 2+2 and there was nothing to suggest operations outside of the "standard" space I will assume the "standard" set of rules. Just as I do with english.

 

[nessum]

Did I say I was changing operational space? Did I say I was using any other base besides 10? Did I list the little subscript for to indicate base 4? No.

For the English is not math folks....I'm sorry you missed it.

Oh, whatever. (Yes, I used that word.) If you can't see the beauty of the English language gives us the ability to agree to disagree then you're better off sticking with your rules.

 

[AndyDragon]

I have noticed that there isn't some big debate about the mandatory set of rules one must follow in math. For example, if I decided to add 2 + 2, the correct answer is 4. It doesn't matter where you are, or where you went to school. There isn't any room for variation (unless maybe one is using an Intel processor to calculate the results).

Intel has nothing to do with the inability to represent every number in floating point notation. The issue is with the IEEE standard for representing floating point values. ANY processor which represents floating point values in IEEE notation will have issues with numbers which don't fit neatly into that standard...

 

[NudeDiver]

But you didn't specify which space you were operating in. So I'm free to assume whatever the heck I want.

And are you denying that, absent any specific indicator or reason to suspect otherwise, that the convention is that base 10 is implied and that it is completely reasonable to expect people in this society to know and implement this implied base? Rather like, unless I define the word "dog" for you, that I can expect you to have in mind a four footed furry mammal that is commonly used as a pet?

 

[NudeDiver]

Intel has nothing to do with the inability to represent every number in floating point notation. The issue is with the IEEE standard for representing floating point values. ANY processor which represents floating point values in IEEE notation will have issues with numbers which don't fit neatly into that standard...

Um....I was making fun of Intel's Pentium FDIV bug...which is unrelated to the IEEE standard for representing floating point values, or the ability to represent every number in floating point notation....and led to Intel recalling the defective processors.

 

[AndyDragon]

Um....I was making fun of Intel's Pentium FDIV bug...which is unrelated to the IEEE standard for representing floating point values, or the ability to represent every number in floating point notation.

Then would the FDIV bug show up in an addition of two integers? LOL...

The story of WHY the FDIV bug exists is much funnier than the facts of what it is or what it affects...

 

[NudeDiver]

The story of WHY the FDIV bug exists is much funnier than the facts of what it is or what it affects...

The why is usually much more funny than the what.

 

[mikemill]

And are you denying that, absent any specific indicator or reason to suspect otherwise, that the convention is that base 10 is implied and that it is completely reasonable to expect people in this society to know and implement this implied base? Rather like, unless I define the word "dog" for you, that I can expect you to have in mind a four footed furry mammal that is commonly used as a pet?

You missed the point. The symbols 2+2=4 isn't some hard and fast rule that can never change as you tried to assert.

Words are nothing more than symbols that represent ideas. Hell that is true of all languages including programming languages.

Lets go with an easier example: what is log(100)? For some the "standard" would be 2 and others it would be 4.6051701859880913680359829093687. How? Because the symbol log(100) can be used to represent the base 10 logarithm or the base e logarithm. So you really have to know what the context is.

To use a non-math example: "This software is free". Seems like a simple enough of a sentence and for a lot of people there is no ambiguity. But for a programmer involved in the FOSS movement that sentence could mean something different and/or be ambiguous.

All languages are just imperfect attempts to convey ideas and meaning in a way that a recipient can understand it. Since they are imperfect I prefer not to get hung up on the grammar whenever possible.