Re: Impossible Database Design?

From: Bob Badour <bbadour_at_pei.sympatico.ca>
Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 15:11:14 GMT
Message-ID: <m2Hag.8871$A26.223793@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca>

Marshall wrote:

> -CELKO- wrote:
>

>>It also
>>uses a "Chronons" (discrete points of time) model for temporal data,
>>which is rejected by virtually all of the temporal database academics
>>because it fails to model time as a continuum.

Can you think of any better evidence that Joe is a self-aggrandizing ignorant who wouldn't recognize logic if it bit him on the ass?

> I don't see the problem. I am fairly confident that computers cannot
> fully model a continuum, because of the difficulties with infinity.
> The real numbers form a continuum--there are an infinite number of
> them between 0 and 1. I note that, despite the importance of real
> numbers, we use instead floats: finite, discrete points on the number
> line. It works reasonably well, and I'm not aware that there's any way
> to do it better. (Besides adding more precision.)

At best, computers use 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000... % 

of the set of rational numbers, which are themselves

0.000000000000000000000000000000000000.... % of the reals.

Received on Wed May 17 2006 - 10:11:14 CDT