Re: [ANN] Lua 5.3.1 (rc1) now available

[Nagaev Boris <bnagaev@...>]

On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 2:53 PM, 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
>

Thank you for the explanation!

There are same 2 words in Russian:
1) числовой - numeric
состоит из чисел -  consists of numbers
Example: числовая переменная - numeric variable
2) численный - numerical
работает с числами - uses numbers
Example: численные методы - numerical methods

What about word "numeral"?


-- 


Best regards,
Boris Nagaev