Comments on Becky's T-Blog: And then...

What were we talking about? I really don't know a...

2007-02-06T23:37:00.000Z

What were we talking about?

I really don't know anymore. I gave up after the liquified remains of my brain dribbled out of my left ear and made a nasty stain on the carpet.

The last thing I remember was something about not being able to infer a result in Boolean logic, that the inference was only in the mind of the programmer until it was subjected to a test, when it became a result rather than an inference.
....then something about cats....
....then I noticed I was standing in something sticky...

I think you might be right Charlee. One of the th...

2007-02-06T22:08:00.000Z

I think you might be right Charlee. One of the three properties of a topological space is that you can define a metric on it, and I think your example was a demonstration that there is no metric.

Either that or it was something in Group theory.

Sorry, what were we talking about?

So a piece of rope with a loop and integrated shee...

2007-02-06T22:07:00.000Z

So a piece of rope with a loop and integrated sheet bend = knot

Its logical , but is it bowline ?

The opposite of but in English? Depends how you us...

2007-02-06T15:16:00.000Z

The opposite of but in English? Depends how you use the word.

In an adverbial sense the opposite of "but" would be something like "more than". For example, if you said, "It is but a scratch" the opposite would be, "it is more than a scratch" or "it is not only a scratch."

As a preposition the opposite of "but" would be something like "including". For example, "I like all tranny blogs but Becky's". The opposite would be "I like all tranny blogs including Becky's".

As a conjunction the opposite of "but" would be "and also". "She is clever but not very pretty." Opposite: "She is clever and also very pretty."

@ Penny: perhaps it was (a -> b) -> (b -> a) Ie, ...

2007-02-06T14:31:00.000Z

@ Penny:
perhaps it was
(a -> b) -> (b -> a)

Ie, if a implies b, it doesn't necessarily also hold that b implies a.

what's the opposite of BUT? in English that is?

The meaning doesn't matter. It's the form of the a...

2007-02-06T12:09:00.000Z

The meaning doesn't matter. It's the form of the argument which gives it it's validity.

Just as 2 + 2 = 4 is true whether you are talking about apples or oranges or bananas. So logical arguments, too, are valid whatever meaning attaches to the terms of the argument.

The only place where meaning is relevant is in examining the truth of the premises of an argument. But once you accept the premises then the argument is valid according to laws of logic alone.

So, Becky's argument about Aristotle is fallacious. No amount of quibbling about meaning will alter that fact. You cannot derive the conclusion that Aristotle is Greek from the two premises given.

For the same reason your lecturer, Valerie, was an idiot - it doesn't matter what symbols you use. It's the form which counts. The letters are mere conventions - all the books I have use p and q, a and b, FGH, and so on because it doesn't actually matter which letters you use so long as it is consistent within one particular argument.

Logic is the queen of science!

One is simply the abstract symbolisation of the ot...

2007-02-06T11:17:00.000Z

One is simply the abstract symbolisation of the other ..having lost all the actual meaning on the way.

Sorry Stephanie, but I have religious hatred against logic, originating from the exam I failed because I used symbols a,b,c in my logical deductions instead of the s,v,t that were used in the book (and should always be used in that field of science if you asked the bearded lecturer, who turned dark red and sweaty during the half an hour argument we had about the true , exact meaning of different letters of alphabet).

More seriously, I think artificial intelligence will never emerge before we let go with boolean logic.

Why do you wince, Isobel? One is simply the abstra...

2007-02-06T10:30:00.000Z

Why do you wince, Isobel? One is simply the abstract symbolisation of the other.

/Winces at the mixing of Boolean and English meani...

2007-02-06T00:38:00.000Z

/Winces at the mixing of Boolean and English meaning, so throws in some Japanese for good luck.

The question could always be wrong: Mu.

Don't forget 'can't' As my old teacher said (alwa...

2007-02-05T23:23:00.000Z

Don't forget 'can't'

As my old teacher said (always) 'There's no such word as can't'

Then trying doing you-know-what while standing up in a hammock.

I'm sure I did an algebra in pure maths once where...

2007-02-05T23:19:00.000Z

I'm sure I did an algebra in pure maths once where a = b but b <> a

Or was I asleep in the class and just dreaming it?

I dunno why Aristotle didn't just come out as gay....

2007-02-05T23:13:00.000Z

I dunno why Aristotle didn't just come out as gay.

(Because of the "beard", geddit?)

I'm afraid so: affirming the consequent - a grave ...

2007-02-05T23:07:00.000Z

I'm afraid so: affirming the consequent - a grave fallacy :)

:tries to join in with sage conversation: Ah, but...

2007-02-05T22:55:00.000Z

:tries to join in with sage conversation:

Ah, but is it not also said - all Greeks have beards, Aristotle has a beard, therefore Aristotle is a Greek?

:fails:

I think you're right, Claudia, that BUT is logical...

2007-02-05T22:08:00.000Z

I think you're right, Claudia, that BUT is logically equivalent to AND. However, your first line doesn't really represent how "but" is used in normal language.

I would write it as:

if A is NOT B BUT A is C AND B is NOT C

(So, in normal language: Socrates is not a woman - but Socrates is a man. and [implied] a woman is not a man.)

BUT is logically equivalent to AND: if A is NO...

2007-02-05T21:37:00.000Z

BUT is logically equivalent to AND:

if A is NOT B BUT C = D

is the same as

if A is NOT B AND C = D

There have been a few languages that have implemented this, or you can macro it in C etc.

OK, so I'm a geek, BUT I look gorgeous in a dress

Eeeh, joining tables in SQL Server - what's not to...

2007-02-05T21:05:00.000Z

Eeeh, joining tables in SQL Server - what's not to love!

Hey that could be the reason why computers are so ...

2007-02-05T20:20:00.000Z

Hey that could be the reason why computers are so uncompromising.

Hang on. You're talking about logical expressions...

2007-02-05T18:24:00.000Z

Hang on. You're talking about logical expressions, then suddenly segue into Boolean expressions...

/gets coat