Timeline for Is there a straightforward word for "The thing in between first and second"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
7 events
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| May 24, 2011 at 11:24 | comment | added | Peter Shor | @Boob: There's a first derivative, and a second derivative, and the OP wants to talk about a mathematical object halfway between them. You could say the "3/2 order derivative" or the "derivative of order 3/2." But I think "one-and-a-halfth derivative" or "first-and-a-half derivative" are more comprehensible, albeit less grammatical. If the OP needs to start talking about the "1.743th derivative", then "derivative of order 1.743" starts sounding better. | |
| May 24, 2011 at 7:49 | comment | added | Glen Wheeler | @Boob You are missing the point. The situation is that we have a set of objects, they have a well-defined ordering, one wishes to refer to those in the "3/2th" place. That they have a well-defined ordering is not in question, and that seems to me to be what you are struggling with. | |
| May 23, 2011 at 15:22 | comment | added | user8568 | It's not correct. There is no place for 3/2, when we count members of a queue, we cannot say "1st one, one-and-a-halfth one, 2nd one, ..". there's no order for non integer numbers. | |
| May 23, 2011 at 12:45 | history | edited | Peter Shor | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| May 23, 2011 at 12:35 | history | edited | Peter Shor | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| May 23, 2011 at 12:25 | comment | added | Glen Wheeler | Indeed, the pronounciation is a big problem. When one gives a talk, and wishes to say "Computing the (3/2)-th derivative gives us..." it becomes cumbersome and sometimes embarrassing. With yours and Unreason's answers, I shall use "X-and-a-halfth". The question now becomes, how do I accept both answers? | |
| May 23, 2011 at 11:29 | history | answered | Peter Shor | CC BY-SA 3.0 |