* Re: sqrt
@ 1998-10-18 15:39 Tobias Burnus
0 siblings, 0 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: Tobias Burnus @ 1998-10-18 15:39 UTC (permalink / raw)
Cc: NTG-CONTEXT
Hi Hans,
> I've been giving this \sqrt some thinking.
>
> (1) I think \root ... \of ... is not that bad at all. It follows the
> flow of thinking.
It does. But {a \over b} does as well and we have also \fraction{a}{b}
defined in ConTeXt; moreover it is easier to remember \sqrt{x} and
\sqrt[3]{x} than
having \sqrt{x} and \root3\of x
> (2) \sqrt is a plain tex macro, which we cannot simply redefine.
Agreed.
> (3) Personally I always think of sqrt as being the root 2 of something,
> and therefore \sqrt[x]{} is (correct me if I'm wrong) a rather strange
> one.
{\root3\of{}} is but {\root3\of x} isn't that strange.
[I wrongly wrote \sqrt[n]{x} = \root x\of n in a privious mail, it's in
LaTeX of cause: \sqrt{x} = \sqrt{x} and \sqrt[n]{x} = {\root n\of x}
> On the other hand, I like the idea of a more verbose syntax. Maybe Taco
> has some ideas on this, especially when we look at math ML and the
> possibility to map tex on MML vise vera.
Agreed. But we should also look at AMSTeX/AMSLaTeX, but I'm sure Taco
will do so anyway.
Tobias
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread
* Re: sqrt
@ 1998-10-19 8:09 Taco Hoekwater
0 siblings, 0 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: Taco Hoekwater @ 1998-10-19 8:09 UTC (permalink / raw)
Cc: Hans Hagen, NTG-CONTEXT
>>>>> "TB" == Tobias Burnus <burnus@gmx.de> writes:
TB> Hi Hans,
>> I've been giving this \sqrt some thinking.
>>
>> (1) I think \root ... \of ... is not that bad at all. It follows the
>> flow of thinking.
TB> It does. But {a \over b} does as well and we have also \fraction{a}{b}
TB> defined in ConTeXt; moreover it is easier to remember \sqrt{x} and
TB> \sqrt[3]{x} than
TB> having \sqrt{x} and \root3\of x
agree.
>> (2) \sqrt is a plain tex macro, which we cannot simply redefine.
TB> Agreed.
agree.
>> (3) Personally I always think of sqrt as being the root 2 of something,
>> and therefore \sqrt[x]{} is (correct me if I'm wrong) a rather strange
>> one.
TB> {\root3\of{}} is but {\root3\of x} isn't that strange.
TB> [I wrongly wrote \sqrt[n]{x} = \root x\of n in a privious mail, it's in
TB> LaTeX of cause: \sqrt{x} = \sqrt{x} and \sqrt[n]{x} = {\root n\of x}
A short explanation, in reply to something Hans wrote earlier:
Taco, is there really no way to determine the local math style?
No. And that is principally caused by \over, which is why it has to go
away in a future version of NTS. For the sake of consistency, it makes
sense to remove the other infix notations (like \root \of) as well.
Consider this:
$$ {a \over b} \over c$$
When TeX scans this (and expanding the macros along the way), it first
sees an $a$, in displaystyle. Next it sees $\over$, which switches the
$a$ to scriptstyle (at least). now it also finds and $b$ in
scriptstyle, closes the subform and moves on. Yet another \over!. So
*all* of the preceding material moves into scriptscriptstyle. This is
why you can't get at the current math style: Knuth decided not to have
unreliable information available to the macro programmer.
>> On the other hand, I like the idea of a more verbose syntax. Maybe Taco
>> has some ideas on this, especially when we look at math ML and the
>> possibility to map tex on MML vise vera.
TB> Agreed. But we should also look at AMSTeX/AMSLaTeX, but I'm sure Taco
TB> will do so anyway.
Of course.
Greetings, Taco
--
Taco Hoekwater taco.hoekwater@wkap.nl
Kluwer Academic Publishers -- Pre Press --
Achterom 119, 3311 KB Dordrecht, The Netherlands tel. 31-78-6392550
---------------------------------------------------------------------
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread
* sqrt
@ 1998-10-17 20:48 Hans Hagen
0 siblings, 0 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: Hans Hagen @ 1998-10-17 20:48 UTC (permalink / raw)
Hi Tobias,
I've been giving this \sqrt some thinking.
(1) I think \root ... \of ... is not that bad at all. It follows the
flow of thinking.
(2) \sqrt is a plain tex macro, which we cannot simply redefine.
(3) Personally I always think of sqrt as being the root 2 of something,
and therefore \sqrt[x]{} is (correct me if I'm wrong) a rather strange
one.
On the other hand, I like the idea of a more verbose syntax. Maybe Taco
has some ideas on this, especially when we look at math ML and the
possibility to map tex on MML vise vera.
Hans
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
tel: 038 477 53 69 | fax: 038 477 53 74 | mail: pragma@wxs.nl
-----------------------------------------------------------------
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~1998-10-19 8:09 UTC | newest]
Thread overview: 3+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
1998-10-18 15:39 sqrt Tobias Burnus
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
1998-10-19 8:09 sqrt Taco Hoekwater
1998-10-17 20:48 sqrt Hans Hagen
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox;
as well as URLs for NNTP newsgroup(s).