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On Jun 4, 2015 10:54 AM, "Coda Highland" <chighland@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 6:51 AM, Roberto Ierusalimschy
> <roberto@inf.puc-rio.br> wrote:
> >> There seems to have been a general search-and-replace of "numeric"
> >> by "numerical" except in "alphanumeric" and os.setlocale.
> >>
> >> Personally I preferred it as it was. The two words are nowadays completely
> >> synonymous.
> >
> > Anyone else has strong preferences about that?
> >
> > -- Roberto
> >
>
> *raises hand* I think "numeric" is definitely the preferred form here.
> While the two words may be near-synonymous by a dictionary definition,
> the common usage is different.
>
> The term "numeric" is most frequently used to describe things that
> CONSIST of numbers, while the term "numerical" is most frequently used
> to describe things that USE numbers. For example, a "numeric value" is
> the result of an arithmetic _expression_, and a "numeric field" can
> contain a number, but a "numerical method" employs a series of
> computed number values to approximate a result that is difficult to
> evaluate directly and "numerical reasoning" describes one's ability to
> derive meaning from a set of numbers.
>
> /s/ Adam
>
+1, that's how I'd use them.