Arthur Reutenauer wrote: >> [bara erom] 12.472.477 [bara emos] >> >> [bara erom] 774.274.21 [bara emos] >> >> for long numbers a pretty fast reversing mind is needed > > I think you're mistaken about the flexibility of human mind. Eight > digits may look like a lot, but that's really not a long string compared > to an average line width, and it does not take a lot of effort for the > reader to look ahead for the start of the number. And eight digits is > probably the longest it gets anyway (OK, maybe 12, but a 15-digit number > would be difficult to read for anyone in any language).
real interesting book ... http://www.mathematicalbrain.com/preface.html (thinks like reading and seein gumbers, thinking in numbers, differences imposed by culture and language) > Actually you should look at it as a cultural difference, even if it > interferes with scientific notation (and if you think about it, the > percent sign is a scientific one, even if a rather simple and widely > used one). And I'm sure you know how natural each person can find his > own culture, while others would be puzzled by aspects of it. Hey, > you're Dutch; doesn't that number read something like "twelve millions > four hundred two and seventy thousands four hundred seven and seventy" > in Dutch? (What else do German, Dutch, Arabic and Slovenian have in > common?) And yet I'm sure you would read it out loud without hesitation > (OK, you might say that you're only reversing two digits at a time, but > I could reply that the way I see it, they are interspersed more or less > arbitrarily). there's a difference between 2, two, second etc and languages cq. cultures where kids learn / encounter ons of them first (unfortunately i forget most of whay i read so i cannot summarize it) Hans ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands tel: 038 477 53 69 | fax: 038 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com | www.pragma-pod.nl ----------------------------------------------------------------- ___________________________________________________________________________________ If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki! maillist : [email protected] / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net archive : https://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________
