On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 15:43:42 -0700 (PDT)
Fred Cisin <cisin(a)xenosoft.com> wrote:
On Wed, 23 Jun 2004, Tony Duell wrote:
How many even know the square root of 2 and 3?
2.236+ ;-)
No, that's the square root of 2+3. The square root of 2
AND 3 (assuming a
normal binary machine) is presumably somewhere
close to
1.4142 :-)
I think my humor may have been too subtle... it was
intended to reflect the mindset of a *child* -- where
"and" predates "plus" in describing aritmetic operations
(at least on this side of the pond in the distant past :>)
Since the operations we were discussing are those
typically (in the *past*!) taught to *children* :>
(and why is it that we magically ignore the *other*
square root in each example cited? :-(
sorry for the typo.
<grin> No, I was busting balls... :>
I intended to say:
How many even know the square roots of 2 and 3?
(square root of (2), square root of (3) )
But, even GIVEN the square rootS of 2 and of 3,
how many students could tell you the square root of 6?
Or, *why*!
--don