From: dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)
Subject: Re: Why one school changed from Pascal to C++
Date: 1997/05/06
Date: 1997-05-06T00:00:00+00:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <dewar.862926298@merv> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 5kn15j$6sa@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk
Richard says
<< Well, yes and no. There's a limit to how many special cases one
can hold in memory at once - * usually denotes multiplication. What
you do to matrices is not by any stretch of the imagination
multiplication, so why should it have the same name ?>>
It should have the same name because mathematicians have called this
operation matrix multiplication for a long time, since long before
computers had even been thought of. It is NOT helpful for computer
scientists to try to revise standard mathematical terminology in
this way. If matrix multiplication is not in "any stretch of
[your] imagination multiplication", then your notion of multiplication
is entirely idiosyncratic, and too unfamiliar to be helpful!
next prev parent reply other threads:[~1997-05-06 0:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 13+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
[not found] <33664F10.6B76@mathernet.com>
1997-05-02 0:00 ` Why one school changed from Pascal to C++ Philippe Allenbach
1997-05-02 0:00 ` Lance Kibblewhite
1997-05-02 0:00 ` Richard Watts
1997-05-03 0:00 ` Kevin Cline
1997-05-02 0:00 ` Farshad Nayeri
1997-05-05 0:00 ` Rennie Allen
1997-05-05 0:00 ` Farshad Nayeri
1997-05-06 0:00 ` Richard Watts
1997-05-06 0:00 ` Farshad Nayeri
1997-05-06 0:00 ` Robert Dewar [this message]
1997-05-06 0:00 ` Spencer Allain
1997-05-13 0:00 ` W. Wesley Groleau (Wes)
1997-05-15 0:00 ` Kaz Kylheku
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