I like to say -1 as negative one. So, should I say "negative oneth index" or "negative first index"? Which one is grammatical?
Is there a way to avoid this problem altogether.
I like to say -1 as negative one. So, should I say "negative oneth index" or "negative first index"? Which one is grammatical?
Is there a way to avoid this problem altogether.
Should I say "negative oneth index" or "negative first index"?
You should say neither.
Which one is grammatically correct?
Neither is correct usage. They're probably grammatically correct in the way that "very unique milk" is gramatically correct even though it is so wrong in so many ways.
Is there a way to avoid this problem altogether.
Yes, say item negative one or index negative one.
You shouldn't be using ordinals for indexes. The item at index zero in a c-style array is the first item in the array. It's not the zeroth item, though you can call it item number zero.
Ordinals only make sense as an outgrowth of natural numbers. That's why zeroth and negative- anything sound so bizarre.
It is minus-oneth index.
See "oneth" on Wiktionary en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oneth
(archaic, nonstandard) 'first', or other ordinal derivatives of 'one', such as hundred-and-oneth or minus-oneth
Usage:
Talk:Standard enthalpy of formation From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Perhaps the following thoughts may be useful. They concern the "minus-oneth" law of thermodynamics, a presupposition of the subject, that for a system, there exist states of internal thermodynamic equilibrium.
An Earlier Year from The Oxford Magazine, Noughth Week, Michaelmas Term, 1996, p.4.
Undergraduates are keen to come up before the beginning of term, but are already flown by tutorial time in Eighth Week. Noughth Week is fuller than Full Term, and now many university committees summon themselves in Minus Oneth Week, which, although a serious loss to scholarly activity, has at last enriched the English language with a rhyme for `month'. (emphasis added)
Comment:
While I was familiar with the usage, esp., in "Minus-Oneth Law of Thermodynamics," I looked up the Wikctionary entry and other references only now.
I've never heard anyone say "oneth". Intuitively it sounds very strange to a native's ears. I'd stick with "negative first" or you could say "the first negative index".
What's wrong with "Minus one"... "Minus two"... etc.
Similarly, when we say one or two or whatever it is implied as positive, simply adding Minus or Negative clarifies.