My recollection of the word vulgar fraction mean't a number greater than 1
expressed in quotient form. For example 1 2/3 expressed as 5/3 (hence
numerator > denominator). The word fraction itself referred simply to
quotient form as 2/3 etc.
I appreciate the attempts by some to assert their particular definition of
these words by reference to ordinary language, but don't forget in
mathematics, like most academic disciplines, such words may have special
meanings. They are (if you will) technical terms.
To me the word decimal really means the 'point' form of representing
non-integral numbers rather than the base ten system of numbers. The latter
is (I think) more properly called 'denary' - think of the base two system -
binary etc.
However I'm not emotionally attached to this because like ordinary words
there is no real authority to arbitrate what is right or wrong (dictionaries
only reflect usage). If anyone can point to some reference that contains an
agreed standard on these things I'd be grateful, but in my experience the
correct use of the words decimal and fraction seem to be a matter of
opinion.
Phil Hall
----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2005 11:05 PM
Subject: [USMA:34789] Vulgar
You can see from the on-line dictionary meaning as to what the word Vulgar
means now and what the word meant originally. When the word vulgar was
applied to the word fraction it was done so at a time when the word was
synominous with the word common.
It is the same way with the word pagan, which has a derogatory connotation
today. Originally it was meant to describe the Romans who lived in
villages, and thus were considered slow to learn new ideas that people in
the city caught on to quicker. Thus a pagan was considered stupid.
The vulgar or "common people" were considered less educated then the elite
and thus something associated with the common people became thought of as
far less then desirable.
We can see that the metric system is the system chosen by the elite and
better educated and the imperial is the choice of the vulgar pagans.
Dan
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Vulgar
vul·gar ( P ) Pronunciation Key (vlgr)
adj.
1.. Crudely indecent.
2..
1.. Deficient in taste, delicacy, or refinement.
2.. Marked by a lack of good breeding; boorish. See Synonyms at common.
3.. Offensively excessive in self-display or expenditure; ostentatious:
the huge vulgar houses and cars of the newly rich.
3.. Spoken by or expressed in language spoken by the common people;
vernacular: the technical and vulgar names for an animal species.
4.. Of or associated with the great masses of people; common.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Middle English, from Latin vulgris, from vulgus, the common people.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
vulgar·ly adv.
vulgar·ness n.
Word History: The word vulgar now brings to mind off-color jokes and
offensive epithets, but it once had more neutral meanings. Vulgar is an
example of pejoration, the process by which a word develops negative
meanings over time. The ancestor of vulgar, the Latin word vulgris (from
vulgus, "the common people"), meant "of or belonging to the common people,
everyday," as well as "belonging to or associated with the lower orders."
Vulgris also meant "ordinary," "common (of vocabulary, for example)," and
"shared by all." An extension of this meaning was "sexually promiscuous," a
sense that could have led to the English sense of "indecent." Our word,
first recorded in a work composed in 1391, entered English during the Middle
English period, and in Middle English and later English we find not only the
senses of the Latin word mentioned above but also related senses. What is
common may be seen as debased, and in the 17th century we begin to find
instances of vulgar that make explicit what had been implicit. Vulgar then
came to mean "deficient in taste, delicacy, or refinement." From such uses
vulgar has continued to go downhill, and at present "crudely indecent" is
among the commonest senses of the word.
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Hooper
To: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: Monday, 2005-10-10 13:29
Subject: [USMA:34783] fractions
On 2005 Oct 10 , at 7:33 AM, Stephen Gallagher wrote:
The term "vulgar fraction" has nothing to do with how
nice or beautiful a number is.
On 2005 Oct 10 , at 4:33 AM, Stephen Humphreys wrote:
It might be worth pointing out that creating a psuedo-hostility between
decimal notation and fractions and pretending it has something to do with
metric and imperial is usually the last resort of either side to win a
pointless argument.
I agree with Stephen G. I learned the term "vulgar fraction" a long time
ago before the metric issue was even considered. A vulgar fraction (also
called a common fraction and by some called just a fraction) is a number
expressed as a ratio of two whole numbers.
It is not a pointless argument (as Stephen H. wrote) to emphasize that
metric allows us to eliminate (or at least reduce) the use of common
("vulgar") fractions. Common fractions are used almost exclusively in
measurements done in Ye Olde English mixture of measurements. Not using that
non-metric measuring system would save significant amounts of money and time
in education MAINLY because it would eliminate the need to teach the
arithmetic of common fractions (and mixed numbers).
Common fractions do have some significance aside from Ye Olde English
system, but those uses would not be common and the teaching of them could be
relegated to more advanced courses in mathematics. It would be easier to
teach when students had already studied algebra, for example. (Exceptions
for the common fractions "one half" and "one quarter" could certainly be
made without negating my arguments above.)
In an aside to the main issues, I consider it poor practice to call common
fractions just "fractions" because decimal fractions are also fractions.
Fraction means a part of something less than the whole and really does not
have anything to do with whether it is expressed in ratio or decimal (or
some other) form. In general use, however, we find many people use the term
"fractions" to mean fractions expressed as ratios and "decimals" to mean
fractions expressed as decimal numbers.
Regards,
Bill Hooper
Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
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Make it simple; Make it Metric
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