Re: All asundry, for all intensive purposes.

1

Was it someone saying "A sup i" for a superscript that gave it away?


Posted by: Unfoggetarian: "Pause endlessly, then go in" (9) | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 6:12 PM
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2

Wait, what do people say for superscripts? All my automatic speaking has vanished.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 6:14 PM
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3

No! Really? Not really.


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 6:16 PM
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4

You are hilarious, Heebster. I heart you.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 6:16 PM
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5

No, really!

I guess you just say "A to the i" for superscripts.

In linear algebra, there's a lot of capital A matrices being raised to kth powers. I took linear algebra the same semester that Cypress Hill came out. All the time the teacher would say, "A to the k", and so I'd always want to say, "A to the mother-fucking k. Homeboy."


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 6:18 PM
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6

Heebie's dissertation director.


Posted by: snarkout | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 6:18 PM
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7

We don't talk about superscripts in polite company.


Posted by: Walt Someguy | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 6:18 PM
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8

That is great. You are delightful! Hooray.


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 6:19 PM
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9

xi     xi / x subscript i / x suffix i / x sub i

Per this reference, which I was surprised even existed.


Posted by: The Girl with Colitis Goes By | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 6:30 PM
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10

Just this weekend, at the pet store, I got a request for an "allergy eater" fish.

I knew what he was asking for, which is the important thing. But I kept wanting to ask "Is this like, hayfever level we're talking about? or, like, anaphylactic shock? Cause that's one big damn fish, and we'll have to special order it."

This has no bearing on your story, exactly, I just thought I'd share.


Posted by: wrenae | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 6:38 PM
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11

Well you say "a to the k" (with or without the motherfucking) if it's a power. But if it's just a superscript, like in the sentence "consider e_i a basis of V and e^i the dual basis of V*" then you can say "e lower i... e upper i" or "e sub i... e sup i" or just "e i ... e i ..."


Posted by: Unfoggetarian: "Pause endlessly, then go in" (9) | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 6:53 PM
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12

9: That reference gives |x| as "modulus x". What does modulus mean to a mathematician in that context? I learned |x| as the absolute value operator.


Posted by: Hamilton-Lovecraft | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 6:55 PM
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13

12: The generalization of absolute value to complex numbers.


Posted by: Walt Someguy | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 6:56 PM
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14

Don't tease him like that, Walt.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 6:57 PM
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15

Heebie: almost always right!


Posted by: one nation on the windowsill | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 6:59 PM
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16

Ah. Mathfuckers. That should be called "magnitude" so as not to confuse me. Jean-Robert Argand should know better than to coin new terminology without consulting me.


Posted by: Hamilton-Lovecraft | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 7:03 PM
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17

That should be called "magnitude" so as not to confuse me.

But then what about ||x||....

"e sub i... e sup i"

`sup' is probably best avoided as ambiguous (think lim sup). I mostly hear `super' and `sub', occasionally upper/lower.


Posted by: soup biscuit | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 7:19 PM
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18

or just "e i ... e i ..."

Oh.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 7:21 PM
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19

But then what about ||x||....

But that's our good friend Norm!


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 7:21 PM
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20

No way. That is too fucking awesome.


Posted by: m. leblanc | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 7:21 PM
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21

People wanting to speak math should learn Lojban.


Posted by: pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 7:22 PM
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22

19 also norm, yes!


21 is wrong.


Posted by: soup biscuit | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 7:24 PM
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23

Wikipedia informs me that one of the goals of Lojban is "eliminating ambiguity in language". That is hilarious.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 7:34 PM
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24

23: I find it a regrettable claim, yes. I have even written a page to try to deal with that stupidity.

Also, 21 wasn't very serious. But speaking math in lojban is much easier than in English.


Posted by: pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 7:38 PM
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25

But speaking math in lojban is much easier than in English.

Perhaps... but not as good as speaking math in math, as it were.


Posted by: soup biscuit | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 7:41 PM
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26

I also dislike other things claimed of the language, especially its being "logical". Well, the only sense that it's logical is that it's a very logical (i.e. effective) way to organize a language. I think the origin of the claim is that it has a few constructions that allow you to speak in a style that maps directly to predicate calculus, but that feature of the language is very rarely used.


Posted by: pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 7:41 PM
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27

25: The problem with speaking math in math is that you can't speak it. Math is written, with no good spoken representation.


Posted by: pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 7:42 PM
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28

Math is written, with no good spoken representation.

Right, but that's the best way to do it. If you're just talking, regardless of the language, you'll mostly confuse yourselves and miss things.

The best way to talk math is with a board handy, but a pad of paper will do in a pinch.


Posted by: soup biscuit | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 7:45 PM
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29

No dispute there.


Posted by: pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 7:47 PM
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30

23: BTW, the author of the official grammar reference of Lojban comments on my post, agreeing with me.


Posted by: pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 7:53 PM
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31

Wow. I just stumbled across "all intensive purposes" in a real live official government document a couple of weeks ago. Ask W-lfs-n! I emailed him when I saw it out of disbelief.


Posted by: Becks | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 7:56 PM
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32

Did the use seem to fit the literal meaning of the mistaken spelling better than the usual meaning?


Posted by: pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 7:58 PM
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33

So "Kace of i" for K_i makes it sound like i owns the K, which is surprising given that the K is big and powerful looking while the i is small and falling down; I would be more likely to have thought of the K as possessing the i. Way to be open minded to unconventional power structures in relationships!

Anyway, my contribution to this genre: When I was a tyke, my mother would stick me in the back of the Buick and take me on her errands. We'd listen to the poppy KS95 on these trips, and I would often sit there wondering why the refrain of that one Starship song was "when milk is sitting on rock and roll."


Posted by: Otto von Bisquick | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 8:07 PM
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34

You did?


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 8:23 PM
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35

Otto's mind was ruined by Grace Slick, alas.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 8:27 PM
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36

Two hits! (though they heard "the" instead of "when")


Posted by: Otto von Bisquick | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 8:43 PM
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37

This weekend at a conference, it occurred to me that maybe other people say K sub i and M sub j. Who knew.

The Mighty Heebster submits to no man mathematician symbol!

max
['{CRACK!} Down on your knees, my symbol slaves!']


Posted by: max | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 8:50 PM
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38

She's been known to use latex, too, I suspect.


Posted by: soup biscuit | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 8:56 PM
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39

I'm guessing she figured this out while listening to ABase.


Posted by: Robust McManlyPants | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 9:21 PM
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40

My only personal example is that I once had a co-worker who used "Pacific" in place of "specific" so there were a lot of emails that included instructions such as "enter this Pacific string of characters to get the boot prompt."


Posted by: Robust McManlyPants | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 9:24 PM
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41

A student of mine used "for all intensive purposes" in a paper proposal last week. I'm not sure if there is any good way to set him straight.


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 9:27 PM
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42

It's not a situation where I'm handing it back with notes written on it.


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 9:27 PM
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43

I'm taking a class with a British professor this semester, and I was deeply concerned at my total lack of familiarity with the concept of an "arry" or a "coroll arry". Luckily he eventually wrote "array" and "corollary" on the board.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 9:37 PM
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44

I think I pronounce "corollary" as "coroll arry": cor-OH-larry. Is that different?


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 9:39 PM
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45

Warlike strings of characters will just get you locked out of your account.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 9:49 PM
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46

There's a song by Mr. Scruff where -- even though I know the words -- I can't help but hear this one line as "where the jews taste of honey".


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 9:55 PM
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47

|- /-- __ ###&**

Is that pretty warlike?


Posted by: pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 9:55 PM
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48

A local Freecycler offered to give away a dog. But not just any dog---a "Datsun mix."


Posted by: Funky Clod | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 9:58 PM
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49

I have homework. Crazy.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 10:07 PM
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50

I have a cd of devotional songs in Hindi. One of the songs is totally ruined by a repeated phrase that I can't help hearing as "Nasty kitchen, oh, oh!"


Posted by: mcmc | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 10:39 PM
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51

Heebs is a sociologists conducting an ethnographic study of mathematicians. I hope you liveblog all your research, heebie.


Posted by: spaz | Link to this comment | 09-29-08 11:06 PM
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52

"Nasty kitchen, oh, oh!"

Who put the goat in there?
The yellow goat I ate!


Posted by: Blume | Link to this comment | 09-30-08 12:08 AM
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53

39is impressive.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 09-30-08 12:18 AM
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54

re: 43

That's how most people corollary, no? It's probably sort of how I'd pronounce array, I think [there is a second vowel, but it's short].


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 09-30-08 12:36 AM
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55

No there's definitely a British and American pronunciation of corollary. Brits emphasizing the second O, Americans the first. I liked it in Spellbound when the contestant asks if the root is related to the car, the Carolla.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 09-30-08 5:59 AM
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56

When I was little, I heard "in other words" as "another word is." No real meaning lost there.

I did puzzle over "wonerous" for a while before I understood that my correspondent was talking about something "onerous."


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 09-30-08 6:10 AM
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57

56: The best one I've run into in writing was "flupchuis". You know, like Mae West, Jayne Mansfield, etc.


Posted by: Biohazard | Link to this comment | 09-30-08 6:43 AM
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58

re: 57

That is great.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 09-30-08 7:10 AM
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59

In 1970 I made the pun ASpades. Was I the first? I can't imagine I was. I also made the joke about the busy toilet on the second floor being an hypotenuse.

Oh man, I killed in eighth grade!


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 09-30-08 8:52 AM
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60

The eighth grade comic was me. Some people say I haven't changed.


Posted by: Tripp | Link to this comment | 09-30-08 8:53 AM
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61

39is impressive.

Not in the least. Trivial even. Which can easily be seen if one notes that, by the obvious theorem applied in the obvious way,
AceBase = Pcake.


Posted by: Amit | Link to this comment | 10- 1-08 2:41 AM
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