• shastaxc@lemm.ee
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    25 days ago

    Yes. The variables a, b, c, and z must have a stated correlation. Variable names do not implicitly have any relation between them. Ellipses work for numbers because a series of 1, 2, 3 … 100 can be inferred using the rules of mathematics. A series of a, b, c … z cannot; the series can only be inferred using the rules of the English language.

    • pyre@lemmy.world
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      25 days ago

      so is the word “simplify”. I guess we’ll never know what they mean by that because if you pretend you don’t speak English, then there’s no way of knowing!

    • The variables a, b, c, and z must have a stated correlation

      They do! a is the pronumeral in the 1st factor, b is the pronumeral in the 2nd factor, c is the pronumeral in the 3rd factor - i.e. the first 3 terms in a sequence - and the nth factor has the pronumeral z, and you think that ISN’T stating a relationship between term t of the sequence and the t-th pronumeral? 😂

      “the series can only be inferred using the rules of the English language” - well, they haven’t used Greek letters for it, have they?? 😂

    • nyctre@lemmy.world
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      25 days ago

      Right. Well, yeah, I guess your pedantic response is a lot more logical than the intended answer that other people have pointed out. Have a nice day!