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#17838 02/13/01 07:20 AM
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So we have to call "pi" what was previously named by the greek letter.
Anyway, to a mathematician 4 digits - as 1415 - for pi are no more satisfying than 1.000.000, since pi is not rational - there is no possibility of writing it in a decimal form repeating again and again the same string of digits ,
as, for example , in
7,1232412341234...
Ciao
Emanuela


#17839 02/15/01 06:30 PM
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I'll stick to any kind of pi(e) that hits me in the face, or is it vice-versa ... Blueberry seems to be chock-full anti-oxidants, and it reminds me of picking wild "ones" up in the mountains of Norway with the reindeer by my side. Lemon, whether it be dancing the "merengue", or topped with a thin layer of Mandarin Napoleon is right up there... but my current favorite is "banana oil", especially with all this cajolery going on.

But, please, let us not talk about food...YART.... and another thing, the pi issue is here in YART again.... not that I expect to change the subject back to goosing, completely, however... - Ciao


#17840 02/15/01 09:14 PM
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Just a reminder : AnaStrophic had a great idea when she started a thread called Recipes and other non-language topics ... right in this category.
Just a reminder
wow


#17841 02/15/01 11:16 PM
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Forgive my ignorance - dare I ask - what is YART?


#17842 02/15/01 11:19 PM
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In regards to your comment about using 1.000.000 digits -

As a child I learned to use commas for large numbers (1,000,000) - now I am seeing periods (1.000.000) and spaces (1 000 000) used, especially in science-related or foreign uses. Any explanations??


#17843 02/16/01 11:51 AM
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what is YART?

IITYWYBMAD?


#17844 02/16/01 01:15 PM
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In French immersion we learned commas where an anglo would use decimals. So $2.00 would be 2,00 $ written in French, at least the way I learned it. Also in Italian the same reversal of symbols applies, so one million is 1.000.000 as Emanuela wrote. (I don't think this is new, it has always been around, but the increasing overlap of different cultures makes it more noticeable.) It's probably used more often there because the lira comes in "giant" denominations like that. A million lire isn't really as much as it sounds like - something like $717 Canadian or $469 US.

As for scientific publications, I have noticed an increased use of spaces instead of commas: two thousand three hundred and thirty eight would be 2 338, not 2,338. But that may be just a preference of certain publishers, and maybe since switching into oceanography I am reading more papers by those publishers...hard to say.


#17845 02/19/01 03:14 AM
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I sometimes think I spend half my life swapping round commas and points in numbers. Indonesian, presumably following Dutch usage, also has 3,141 (for three point (in Indonesian koma ) one four one) and 3.141 (for three thousand one hundred and forty-one).

Bingley


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#17846 02/27/01 03:19 AM
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Thanks for the explanations.


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