> > > Factoring.........up to .. > > > Should it not be Factorizing ? >
http://www.merriam-webster.com/ Merriam-Webster has entries for both factor and factorize (factorize is actually under the factorization listing). The definition of factor is "to resolve into factors" The definition of factorization is "the operation of resolving a quantity into factors" So it seems both are right, but I'm guessing something peculiar happened in the history of the English language to cause this duality. For instance, perhaps the correct word to describe the operation of factoring would have been "factoration", but mathematicians didn't like the way that word sounded so they used "factorization" in their papers and lectures, and then the word "factorize" was back-propagated from "factorization"? Please note that last sentence was wild speculation.* * _______________________________________________ Prime mailing list [email protected] http://hogranch.com/mailman/listinfo/prime
