THEORY: (Was: Re: OT Syntax (Was: Re: THEORY: phonemes and Optimality Theory tutorial))

On Sat, Nov 18, 2000 at 04:44:38PM -0500, Yoon Ha Lee wrote:
[snip]
> I love how the history of mathematical prejudice is recorded in the names
> of number-types: rational, irrational, imaginary, complex, nonstandard...<G>
You forgot *negative* numbers. :-)

Or, for that matter, the non-existent quantity we call zero.

[snip]
> YHL, who loves history of math but doesn't quite know enough math
Heh... I had always been somewhat interested in math, and then I happened
to take a course called "the history of math" as an elective.

(Why do I take math courses to fill up my electives? Don't ask unless you
*really* want to know :-) )

> (Actually, I'm not sure anyone does, what with the explosion of
> sub-sub-fields and specialists who can't talk to each other.  Some
> professors at Cornell have scared me with tales of going to mathematical
> conferences where someone would give a paper and only one person in the
> audience would pay attention while the rest went out for coffee, because
> everyone else had no clue what was going on!)
Ooooh! So *that's* why that guy I met on IRC has so far declined to
comment on some math stuff I sent him (about my magnitudes theory, see
other post). :-P


T

--
MASM = Mana Ada Sistem, Man!