68kMLA

Oh, that looks interesting - is it full of maths or program listings? Or lots of pictures and descriptions?

@Phipli maths, listings, guides for the inc software.

I got this a little while ago... And then realised that I have spent too long only doing the same few types calculations and I'm a bit rusty on everything else!

Edit - I just re-opened it and remembered it is the huge amounts of 3D geometry and space terminology, with zero explanation that threw me. It just drops "time of perihelion passage" with no explanation for example

@Phipli omg yeah that’d do it

@Phipli , so do you think JPL used this (or the sources this used) to produce the original wire-frame Voyager flyby animations?

@Snial - I really hope they do. It is all written in Sinclair BASIC. I would like to think they are using original hardware, or at least an emulator of a spectrum running on a super computer

@SophieRose - is there any chance you could upload a disk image to Macintosh Garden? Or here? It would be hugely appreciated.

That definitely looks like a Sophie book!

“Maths” is appropriate in British English?

“Maths” is appropriate in British English?

Click to expand...

Yes, because we Brits treat 'Mathematics' as a plural, though usually I say "math" to emphasise the inner unity of the subject.

LaPorta - do you say "Mathematic" to describe the field when not abbreviating?

"He was a lecturer of mathematic" sounds really odd.

It sure would! It’s not abbreviated as such here for some reason. Interesting yet again!

@LaPorta so, your full word is plural, but your abbreviation is singular?

Yes…so one would say “the study of mathematics”, but for instance “doing math homework” or “math class”…no one would say “maths class”, for instance. At least here, that is.

LaPorta that is really weird to drop the plural

I guess you can see why we do it like we do? Same as say... You might say doc instead of document, but you would say docs instead of documents, not doc?

Indeed…I’ll have to do a little more research and get back to you.

Simplest thing I could find:

@LaPorta - well, yeah, the English language is defined by how it is used (sadly in some cases, when literally everyone but a few people ( @cheesestraws ) use something incorrectly, it gains that as a new meaning). In this case, the fact that it is called "math" in the US means that that is correct (there).

Here we tend to maintain the plural on abbreviations.

I love learning new things form you guys.