[om] prefix in units_ops1

Paul Libbrecht paul at ags.uni-sb.de
Thu Sep 25 12:29:40 CEST 2003


We tend to prefer multiplication and actually define kilo to be a 
number...
Why can't that be as simple ?
Because we are lacking the ability to recognize 1000*m as a unit ?
This should be the type business!

Paul



On Mercredi, sept 24, 2003, at 23:45 Europe/Paris, Bill Naylor wrote:
> Well I'm all in favour of generalisation. I like your idea Jaques, I 
> was
> just unhappy with the original (wich I think was clearly a mistake)
>
> Bill
>
>>
>> There is a more general, consistent meaning of the word 'prefix', 
>> which
>> perhaps should be defined at the meta-level ?
>>
>> Something along the lines of:
>> This symbol represents the fact that the second argument (anything) 
>> has been
>> effectively and uniquely modified by the first argument (a prefix).
>>
>> The notion of suffix is of course dual to this.  The units_ops1 could 
>> simply
>> specialize this definition to be "multiplication by a constant".
>>
>> Or is this not the philosophy of OpenMath (abstraction + 
>> specialization) ?
>> Is it that OpenMath follows the "little theories" approach instead ?
>>
>> Jacques
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-om at openmath.org [mailto:owner-om at openmath.org] On Behalf 
>> Of Bill
>> Naylor
>> Sent: September 24, 2003 3:07 AM
>> To: davidc at nag.co.uk; jhd at cs.bath.ac.uk
>> Cc: om at openmath.org
>> Subject: [om] prefix in units_ops1
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I am unhappy with the definition of the prefix symbol in units_ops1:
>>
>> "prefix
>>
>> This symbol represents the fact that the subsequent unit has been
>> effectively multiplied by 1,000 ($10^{3}$) "
>>
>> This seems to me to be a particular application of prefix, viz. to 
>> the kilo
>> symbol. I think something much more along the lines of:
>>
>> This symbol represents the fact that the second argument (a unit) has 
>> been
>> effectively multiplied by a constant specified by the first argument 
>> (a
>> prefix).
>>
>>
>> cheers,
>>
>> Bill
>>
>> --
>> om at openmath.org  -  general discussion on OpenMath
>> Post public announcements to om-announce at openmath.org
>> Automatic list maintenance software at majordomo at openmath.org Mail
>> om-owner at openmath.org for assistance with any problems
>>
>> --
>> om at openmath.org  -  general discussion on OpenMath
>> Post public announcements to om-announce at openmath.org
>> Automatic list maintenance software at majordomo at openmath.org
>> Mail om-owner at openmath.org for assistance with any problems
>>
> --
> om at openmath.org  -  general discussion on OpenMath
> Post public announcements to om-announce at openmath.org
> Automatic list maintenance software at majordomo at openmath.org
> Mail om-owner at openmath.org for assistance with any problems

--
om at openmath.org  -  general discussion on OpenMath
Post public announcements to om-announce at openmath.org
Automatic list maintenance software at majordomo at openmath.org
Mail om-owner at openmath.org for assistance with any problems



More information about the Om mailing list