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- Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
- Path: sparky!uunet!utcsri!skule.ecf!torn!nott!bnrgate!bcrka451!nadeau
- From: nadeau@bcarh1ab.bnr.ca (Rheal Nadeau)
- Subject: Re: quite unique
- Message-ID: <1992Nov18.221451.14168@bcrka451.bnr.ca>
- Sender: 5E00 Corkstown News Server
- Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd., Ottawa
- References: <BxuK87.176@ccu.umanitoba.ca> <1992Nov17.181046.21137@nas.nasa.gov> <1992Nov18.192304.15503@nas.nasa.gov>
- Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 22:14:51 GMT
- Lines: 29
-
- In article <1992Nov18.192304.15503@nas.nasa.gov> asimov@wk223.nas.nasa.gov (Daniel A. Asimov) writes:
- >In article <1992Nov17.181046.21137@nas.nasa.gov> asimov@wk223.nas.nasa.gov (Daniel A. Asimov) writes:
- >> [...]
- >>In scientific contexts, on the other hand, there would be no sense
- >>at all in trying, for example, to intensify "Two is the unique even
- >>prime number" with a comparative.
- >>
- >>--Daz
- >
- >Come to think of it, consider the following two uniquenesses:
- >
- >a) 2 is the unique integer that is an even prime number.
- >
- >b) 1/3 is the unique real number x satisfying the equation 3x = 1.
- >
- >Since there are infinitely more real numbers than integers,
- >perhaps it *does* make sense to say that 1/3 is "more unique"
- >than the number 2, in the above contexts.
-
- Wrong - there are not infinitely more real numbers than integers. If I
- had my university notes, I could trot out the proof, but in the
- meantime: there are infinite numbers of integers and of real numbers.
- "Infinite" being an absolute term, you can't say that one infinite set
- is larger than the other (and certainly not infinitely larger).
-
- Hmm, is Roger now going to argue that "quite infinite" and "more
- infinite" are legitimate? :-)
-
- The Rhealist - Rheal Nadeau - nadeau@bnr.ca - Speaking only for myself
-