[OPE-L:7081] [OPE-L:579] Re: Re: How mathematicians think about equality

clyder@gn.apc.org
Wed, 03 Mar 1999 10:01:36 +0000

At 01:28 PM 26-02-99 -0800, you wrote:
>
>Let b = 2 books
> x = 3 bread
> c = 1 socks
> y = 3 jam
> R = the exchange operator
>
>Thus, following your axiom, bRx and cRy then (bUc)R(xUy) my example would
>read:
>
>if 2 books exchange for 3 bread and 1 socks exchange for 3 jam, then 2
>books and 1 socks would exchange for 3 bread and 3 jam. This is unlikely
>as bread and jam are complementary and therefore together would demand more
>books and socks in exchange than they would in the antecedent exchanges.
>
No it should read 2books and 1 sock exchange for 3 bread and 3 jam.
Sets are un-ordered so you can not without further axioms perform the
decomposition you just did.

Paul Cockshott