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Re: Incorrect behavior of /NAN [message #30143 is a reply to message #30033]

Fri, 05 April 2002 14:53

James Kuyper
Messages: 425
Registered: March 2000

Senior Member

Kenneth Bowman wrote:

> In article <onu1qpzubn.fsf@cow.physics.wisc.edu>,
> Craig Markwardt <craigmnet@cow.physics.wisc.edu> wrote:
>
>
>> I could easily argue the other way, in terms of reasonableness. The
>> sum of "no" numbers is zero.
>
>
> Zero is a number. How can the sum of no numbers be a number?
> If there are no numbers how can there even be a sum?
>
> Ken

The number of ball bearings produced in a given city during a specified
time period can be expressed as a sum over the amounts produced by each
ball bearing plant in that city. What should the value of that sum be,
for a city that has no ball bearing plants? I'd say that it's definitely
a number, and definitely 0. I think that this is the most reasonable
value for the sum of almost any variable-length list, when that list
happens to have a length of 0. It's also the natural result of the most
obvious algorithm for calculating the sum.

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[Message index]

		Incorrect behavior of /NAN By: K. Bowman on Thu, 04 April 2002 07:40
		Re: Incorrect behavior of /NAN By: Craig Markwardt on Sat, 06 April 2002 07:46
		Re: Incorrect behavior of /NAN By: Kenneth P. Bowman on Sat, 06 April 2002 06:28
		Re: Incorrect behavior of /NAN By: David Fanning on Fri, 05 April 2002 17:57
		Re: Incorrect behavior of /NAN By: James Kuyper on Fri, 05 April 2002 14:53
		Re: Incorrect behavior of /NAN By: K. Bowman on Fri, 05 April 2002 14:25
		Re: Incorrect behavior of /NAN By: Craig Markwardt on Fri, 05 April 2002 13:53
		Re: Incorrect behavior of /NAN By: Paul van Delst on Fri, 05 April 2002 07:35
		Re: Incorrect behavior of /NAN By: Paul van Delst on Thu, 04 April 2002 13:52
		Re: Incorrect behavior of /NAN By: K. Bowman on Mon, 15 April 2002 06:47
		Re: Incorrect behavior of /NAN By: noymer on Sun, 14 April 2002 18:32

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