From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.4 required=5.0 tests=AC_FROM_MANY_DOTS,BAYES_00 autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,86d333341f490421 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-03-27 17:19:31 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news-peer-europe.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!luth.se!psiuk-p2!psiuk-p3!uknet!psiuk-n!news.pace.co.uk!nh.pace.co.uk!not-for-mail From: "Marin David Condic" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Natural data type ? Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 09:25:36 -0500 Organization: Posted on a server owned by Pace Micro Technology plc Message-ID: References: <3CA12AD4.2030807@oek.dk> NNTP-Posting-Host: dhcp-200-133.miami.pace.co.uk X-Trace: nh.pace.co.uk 1017239137 12750 136.170.200.133 (27 Mar 2002 14:25:37 GMT) X-Complaints-To: newsmaster@news.cam.pace.co.uk NNTP-Posting-Date: 27 Mar 2002 14:25:37 GMT X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4522.1200 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:21739 Date: 2002-03-27T14:25:37+00:00 List-Id: I've often wondered this myself. What Ada calls "Natural" numbers are what used to be called "Whole" numbers when I was learning The New Math. What Ada calls "Positive" would have been called "Natural" back then too. I don't know if this is some version of "The All New And More Improved Math" or if it was just some mistake that got institutionalized & now we're stuck with it. The secret is not to take the names too seriously - just understand what they give you and work with it... MDC -- Marin David Condic Senior Software Engineer Pace Micro Technology Americas www.pacemicro.com Enabling the digital revolution e-Mail: marin.condic@pacemicro.com "Peter I. Hansen" wrote in message news:3CA12AD4.2030807@oek.dk... > Hello > > I'm new to Ada and I'm reading a book by Feldman & Koffman. > Now I see that the datatype 'Natural' is the integers {0,1,2,3,4,...}, > and type Positive is {1,2,3,4,5,....}. I know this is all akademic, but > why this definition. > We learn in mathematics that the natural numbers are positive integers > not including zero..., So to me the 'Natural' way of defining these > datatypes would be : > > Natural : {1,2,3,4,5, ... } > Positive : {0,1,2,3,4, ... } > > Am I all wrong here or have I stumbled across a misprint ??? > > /Peter >