Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2001 20:14:02 GMT From: Salvo Bartolotta <bartequi@inwind.it> To: Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> Cc: "Mark B. Withers" <mwithers@one.net>, questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: hexidecimal literacy Message-ID: <20010127.20140200@bartequi.ottodomain.org> References: <14963.8033.752142.149320@guru.mired.org>
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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Original Message <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< On 1/27/01, 8:20:01 PM, Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> wrote regarding Re: hexidecimal literacy: > Mark B. Withers <mwithers@one.net> types: > > Oh gosh! > > > > I thought I understood it before, but looking at it like this > > simplifies it dramaticly!! > Just remember that this applies to interesting bases like 0, 1, Pi and= > negative numbers :-). Hello Mike, Hmm, I am afraid you are exaggerating a bit :-) <nit-picking mode> 1) a positional notation making use of negative bases looks very awkward/impractical (you would have to utilize negative coefficients); OTOH, when working with such a positional notation, you are supposed to be working on N (ie the set of the "natural" numbers, or positive integers); and to add to all this, there are a number of approaches to the "construction" of N itself (Peano's, Cipolla's, the set theory with all its subtle problems... cf Bourbaki[sm]) 2) Pi, as "e" ~ 2.71828182..., is <gasp> a **trascendental** irrational number (!). I let you guess what kind of coefficients you have to use to generate integers. </nit-picking mode> Mathematics < manthano (~ I learn, aor. emathon) ;-))) Best regards, Salvo To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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