Phone game: Gleem

[Ivan A Derzhanski <cbmvax!uunet!COGSCI.ED.AC.UK!iad>]

>  Date:        Fri, 29 May 1992 14:50:37 BST
>  From: CJ FINE <C.J.Fine@BRADFORD>
>
>  Ivan answers Nick:
>  >
>  > >  Date: Mon, 25 May 92 11:47:58 +1000
>  > >  From: nsn@AU.OZ.Mu.ee.mullian

[re Colin's comments]

>  > If {re le} means `two of the', not `twice as many',
>  > then {piso le} means (in this case) `.9 of a house operator' <...>
>
>  I didn't say "piso le" I said "piso lei".

You said {sofi'upano le} in your translation.  I'd agree that {piso
lei} ought to be able to mean `nine-tenths of'.  Does {re lei} mean
anything at all?

>  > >  ]I think we are too ready to use decimals an
>  > >  ]not ready enough to use fractions - they have a different kind of
>  > >  ]precision about them.
>  >
>  > Why?  As I understand it, since (mathematically) 9/10 = .9,
>  > {sofi'upano} means exactly the same thing(s) as {piso}.  Nowhere does
>  > it say that one type of fraction may be less precise than the other.

I stand by what I said here.

>  NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!

Six all-caps "no"s with four factorial signs.  How do you lojbanise that?

>  This is elementary metrology. In arithmetic, 9/10 = .9,

... yes, that's how it is in arithmetic, hence also in mex ...

>  but in physics, or applied maths, or the real world, they are not the
>  same, because they imply different standards of accuracy.

Which leads me to believe that my idea of physics, applied maths and
the real world is totally incompatible with yours.  I've never thought
of ".9" as being in any way different from "1/9".

>  As I said in
>  an earlier mail, all measurements (and hence all numbers used as
>  quantifiers) have an express or implied accuracy.

Not unless John's mex paper says so, and I think it doesn't.

>  > I interpret {zdasazri} as `chief butler'.  You know,
>  > someone you have hired to take care for your domestic economy.
>
>  This is our (your and my) argument over precision again. I agree that
>  "zdasazri" can mean "chief butler" - I did not see it necessary to
>  distinguish the kind of house-operator.

That's because we're involved in a highly unnatural task.  In real
life you don't usually translate single sentences out of context.

Ivan