"Vajzovic, Tom" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Of course, five minus seven is negative two, but the _difference_ > between five and seven is positive two, since differences are always > positive.
Your usage disagrees with the traditional terminology. For example, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arithmetic> says "if the minuend is smaller than the subtrahend, the difference will be negative". Also see page 105 of: H. D. Huskey, Technical Developments: Characteristics of the Institute for Numerical Analysis Computer, Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation, Vol. 4, No. 30. (Apr., 1950), pp. 103-108. <http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0891-6837%28195004%294%3A30%3C103%3ATDCOTI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E> This shows that the idea that differences can be negative goes quite a way back in computing. _______________________________________________ Bug-coreutils mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-coreutils
