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To: andysandmikesmom
As many times as the 'scientific' definition of theory has been posted, it never fails, that folks refuse to accept it, because it does not fit into their personal belief system...oh well...

Math is even worse: group, ring, field, prime, associate, composite, unit, ideal, product, power, real, imaginary, fiber and on and on all have completely different meanings, which often have nothing in common with their ordinary meaning.

"ideal class group" sounds vaguely Marxist...

Every field of study has its own jargon, which simply has to be learned. Sometimes, as in the math examples, these are regular words. sometimes, like medicine or cladistics, they're made up for the occasion.

Gauss even borrowed Linnean taxonomic terms for the theory of quadratic forms: class, order, genus

1,256 posted on 04/07/2006 8:42:42 PM PDT by Virginia-American
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To: Virginia-American
I have a math major and many of the math terms of today did not exist 40 years ago. Most times it is something I have learned with a different terminology. I simply keep my mouth shut until I can review it. That way I don't expose my ignorance.
1,266 posted on 04/08/2006 4:20:23 PM PDT by jec41 (Screaming Eagle)
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