Re: Is Abu ?Abd Allah Mu?ammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi Dead?
From: Bob Badour <bbadour_at_pei.sympatico.ca>
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 21:58:30 GMT
Message-ID: <a6uvh.6727$1x.117108_at_ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca>
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> I suggest the alternative spelling: MXL. This has the added benefit of
> making an homage to form MLX of the (US) IRS. A paragon of structure and
> simplicity, to be sure. But did you know that, if you add up the value of
> the letters in the phrase "Internal Revenue Service" according to as certain
> sercet code, the sum comes to the same as MCLXVI. That's apocalyptic, to
> be sure.
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 21:58:30 GMT
Message-ID: <a6uvh.6727$1x.117108_at_ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca>
Walt wrote:
> "Bob Badour" <bbadour_at_pei.sympatico.ca> wrote in message
> news:%g1vh.6160$1x.107747_at_ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...
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>>Marshall wrote:
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>>>Of course, these days we have very different calculating >>>requirements than we did in al-Khwarizmi's time. A >>>polynomial is very, very different now from what it was >>>more than M years ago. If nothing else, the rise of >>>XML and the Web and their tremendous success should >>>make us go back to first principles and consider whether it >>>might be time to revive what was once, for centuries, the >>>dominant numeric form. In particular, the fact that XML uses >>>*text* tags, represents everything as character strings, >>>and discards the straightjacket of rigid, well-defined schema >>>should make us consider the value of a number system >>>that represents quantities as strings of letters without >>>any fixed base.
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>>I prefer normalized RN, and I suggest the proper spelling is: MLX. Or is >>that too much of a rigid straightjacket?
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> I suggest the alternative spelling: MXL. This has the added benefit of
> making an homage to form MLX of the (US) IRS. A paragon of structure and
> simplicity, to be sure. But did you know that, if you add up the value of
> the letters in the phrase "Internal Revenue Service" according to as certain
> sercet code, the sum comes to the same as MCLXVI. That's apocalyptic, to
> be sure.
Now that you mention it, I suppose XML could be semi-normalized. In which case, the fully normalized version would be MXL and not MLX.
What's the proper protocol for resolving this? Entrails of a donkey, perhaps? Received on Mon Jan 29 2007 - 22:58:30 CET