July 2004 - mathfun@mailman.xmission.com

[math-fun] Re: Betwixt and between
by Richard Guy 05 Jul '04

05 Jul '04

Further to my recent message. I currently have a student who came 9th in the Putnam at age 16. He'a all of 17 now. We hope to write a few joint papers with 70-year age difference betwixt the authors. R. On Sat, 3 Jul 2004, Henry Gould wrote: > > You got ne beat! . . . I will be 76 years young on > August 26. I am still teaching > full time at West Virginia University and am about > to start my 47-th year as > a professor of mathematics here. I know there are > some SeqFans older than you, > but the sequence of SeqFans ages is only a finite > sequence because n+1 > terminates for sure when n is greater than (or > greater than or equal to?) 120. > I cannot prove that 120 is the best upper bound for > this sequence. Is any > SeqFan regular near 90? near 100? I have a friend > who is 99 and surfs the web, > but knows nothing about sequences. > WHO is the youngest SeqFan????? Greater than or > equal to 16?Speak now > or forever hold your peace until your n approaches > 120. > > H (things taken) W (at a time) Gould

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Re: [math-fun] Betweenness (Lost in Translation)
by Daniel Asimov 04 Jul '04

04 Jul '04

Henry writes: << Computer languages are just as bad. "from m to n" now means [m..n] inclusive, although English was never so unambiguous prior to computer languages. Fortran never took a stand, as it simply used "1,N", and didn't use an English word. I have always advocated "from m upto n" for the non-inclusive [m..n), since this matches 0-origin indexing much better than the "to" form: "from 0 upto length(vector)". >> Now, I don't think it's such a bad thing that math or computer languages use ambiguous English to mean unambiguous things. Virtually any English word is somewhat ambiguous (multibiguous?), and it seems wworthwhile to use English words & phrases in math and computer languages instead of making up a new word for every concept or operation. In computer languages, you just have to learn them, that all there is to it. In math, there are a number of cases where "standardized" language really isn't standard, even for the simplest things. Does "the natural numbers N" mean {1,2,3,...} or {0,1,2,3,...}? Depends who you ask. (On the other hand, I don't know if I think using "upto" to denote "up to but not including" is all that unambiguous; it's almost unambiguous for the opposite meaning: If in English someone says "He took care of those files up to Q, but no further", it would seem quite clear that Q was included.) --Dan

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[math-fun] Re: Betwixt and between
by Richard Guy 04 Jul '04

04 Jul '04

At least you sent me to my Fowler, where I learnt that `betwixt' was (around 1920) an Archaism (but so was `fall' for `autumn'!). I like `betwixt' and even `twixt'. I don't think there's any convention about between's being inclusive or exclusive, though I guess most would take it to be the latter. Any chance of establishing `betwEEN' as eenclusive and `betwiXt' as eXclusive? R. On Thu, 1 Jul 2004, cino hilliard wrote: > Some questions > > 1. How many whole numbers are between 0 and 10? > > 2. How many primes are between 2 and 3? > > My answers are 11 and 2. > > I think it is more consistent and concrete to > include the bounds of a betweenness than not. > > Obviously one could specify it in the question: how > many primes between 2 and 3 including 2 and 3? > > Can we "prove" it must be this way without > specification? > > My 2 cents. > > Cino > >

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Re: [math-fun] Betweenness (Lost in Translation)
by Mark D. Niemiec 03 Jul '04

03 Jul '04

mcintosh(a)servidor.unam.mx wrote: > Where are you when you're "between the devil and the > deep blue sea? I would hope this interval is exclusive. If you ARE the devil, you are in deep trouble. The same if you are the deep blue sea. (Similar issues apply when you are 'between a rock and a hard place') -- Mark D. Niemiec <mniemiec(a)interserv.com>

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[math-fun] answer to the location of a secret
by Thane Plambeck 03 Jul '04

03 Jul '04

between you and me Thane Plambeck 650 321 4884 office 650 323 4928 fax http://www.plambeck.org

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[math-fun] what's the location of a secret?
by Thane Plambeck 03 Jul '04

03 Jul '04

(answer next message) Thane Plambeck 650 321 4884 office 650 323 4928 fax http://www.plambeck.org

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RE: [math-fun] Betweenness
by Daniel Asimov 02 Jul '04

02 Jul '04

I think it's entirely standard in math written in English *not* to ever use the word "between" when its meaning might be unclear. Rather, it's phrased as either "strictly between x and y" or "between x and y, inclusive" (or "from x to y, inclusive"). (For the interval including, say, x but not y, you're on your own.) --Dan

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[math-fun] growth pattern, phi and all that.
by Simon Plouffe 01 Jul '04

01 Jul '04

hello, There is this site that show some interesting growth pattern in plants and flowers. http://janusteam.org/ I know this subject is well documented but that site has some interesting bits and thoughts. simon plouffe

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