Re: The word "symbol"

"VC" <boston103_at_hotmail.com> wrote in message news:cKudnV6zN63wfmLfRVn-ow_at_comcast.com...
>

> If you say that "David" is a symbol for a person's name, then, in order
to
> be consistent, you ought to say that "1234" is a symbol for the number's
> name, although I do not think that in the context of formal systems such
> locutions are productive at all. Instead, it's much easier and clearer
to
> say that "David" is a person's name and "1234" is a constant (a number's
> name).
>

Actually, "1234" is a symbol for the number's name. The number has a name in the decimal place value notation system, and the character string "1234" is a symbol for that name.

There is a number that has the same name, (symbolized by "1234") in the hexadecimal place value system, but it isn't the same number. The number 1234 (Hex) is the same as the number 4660 (Dec) if I'm using my calculator right. Received on Mon Aug 15 2005 - 14:38:29 CEST