Re: [Phys-l] what shall we do about math?

[chuck britton <cvbritton@mac.com>]

On Jul 16, 2009, at Jul 16(Thu) 3:13 , Steve Highland wrote:

> It defined the square roots of a number a to be the solutions of
>
> X^2 = a
>
> -- so that both the positive and negative values qualify.
>
> But then it said the value of {radical sign}a was just the positive  
> value.
> So the text defined "square root" written out in words one way and  
> square
> root written as a radical a different way.   It seemingly made a  
> distinction
> between "a square root" and "the square root."


I well remember exactly that same discussion/argument way back in my  
Alg I class the in early '60's.

As far as anybody knows - that's just the way that the math world has  
chosen their conventions.

Why be Conventional?			well, maybe ya gotta pass the class?