Jerzy Karczmarczuk ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
[...]
: First of all: at least in Hugs (:%) is *not* exported by
: the Prelude.
:
: So, it is hidden, and a sane, well educated gentleman would
: not procreate a fraction with negative denominator.
That is the point I am trying to make. Not all people are
gentle. Another thing is that gentlemen normally ensure
a gcd of 1 for numerator and denominator. The definition
of (*) in the Prelude has to be clumsy because it cannot
assume that this will the case because users can construct
their own Ratios.
: The form (1:%-1) is an abomination. Perhaps less than (1:%0),
: but anyway. But how to have a low-level efficiency and a
: direct access to data structures, and the respect of all
: mathematic constraints? In principle we could have a polar
: representation of complexes: (r,theta), and somebody really
: funny could put a negative r inside.
I haven't looked at that. But if it is not the intended way
to use these things at least it should be documented.
: And then somebody really sad would cry that (r,theta) is equal
: but not really, to (r,theta+2PI).
But they are equal. However, see my previous point about
documentation.
[...]
Regards,
Marc
--
Marc van Dongen, CS Dept | phone: +353 21 4903578
University College Cork, NUIC | Fax: +353 21 4903113
College Road, Cork, Ireland | Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
