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=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,1bc17347df0c2d32 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: fac41,1bc17347df0c2d32 X-Google-Attributes: gidfac41,public X-Google-Thread: 1008e3,1bc17347df0c2d32 X-Google-Attributes: gid1008e3,public From: dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar) Subject: Re: Why one school changed from Pascal to C++ Date: 1997/05/06 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 239763785 References: <33664F10.6B76@mathernet.com> <5kd7eo$2b4@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk> <8229B62E52EAC144.6C6C6DF4FB6915C3.A10EAF24E2BF24E1@library-proxy.airnews.net> <5kn15j$6sa@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk> Organization: New York University Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.eiffel,comp.lang.modula3 Date: 1997-05-06T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: 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!