Basically, the original poster is seeing the decimal points and thinking *only* mathematics/decimal numbers. Could come from being a mathematics teacher! :-)
But you see points/periods/"full stop" used elsewhere for different purposes - as a simple delimiter. For example, I just came back from a vacation on the Yucatan and did a bit of reading before going. The Mayans, among their three calendars, include one called the "long count." Instead of a cyclical (repeating) month/date system, it just counts up from day 1 (or 0, I'm not sure, but they DID invent 0, even if they weren't the only ones to do so & the Indians or Arabs or whoever it was passed THEIRS on to us before we ever met the Mayans). I've returned the books to the library, so to answer you I turn to the web: "In modern notation the Long Count is expressed simply by numbers. For instance, Monday, Jan. 1, 1996 was 1,865,799 days after the starting date, or 12 bak'tun, 19 k'atun, 2 tun, 13 winal, and 19 k'in. This would be written as 12.19.2.13.19." and the next day would be 12.19.2.13.20. Same as version numbers!!! It's the decimal point that makes you think they MUST be counting in base 10, but that's not necessarily so. (For that matter, even our cyclical dates could be written this way if we put the year first and just use the point delimiter instead of slashes or dashes - today would be 2002.5.6 - and it would count up the same way as version numbers! the day is a small revision, incrementing months is a bigger revision, and changing the leftmost place is a whole new "version," i.e. year.) OK, I really rambled, but I'm still hitting "send" :-) Anne Jeremy Derr wrote: > > On Sunday, May 5, 2002, at 11:07 PM, munker wrote: > > > When is Apple going to go to school? I taught Mathematics off and on > > for 16 years and I have never seen double decimals. Shouldn't it be > > System 9.22 not 9.2.2 ?? > > This is standard versioning. To say Mac OS 9.22 would be to say the 22nd > version; 9.2.2 is not that, it's the second version of OS 9.2. > . > . > . > Basically, taking an x.y.z scheme.... -- The iMac List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | - Epson Stylus Color 580 Printers - new at $69 | & CDRWs on Sale! | SPECIAL LIST PRICES - Apple iMac CDROMs from $79.99, iMac DVD CDROMs from $99.99 3 port USB Hub $14.99, 40GB Hard Drive Upgrades $119 <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> iMac List info: <http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/imac-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
