Brendan's axiomatization, and the conclusion he draws from it, seem to me to
be very important to this ongoing discussion. I have, however, this
technical problem: the email text (never mind the formatted version following
it, which I can only receive as gobbledygook), is filled with HTML
characters, so that equal signs come across as =3D, etc. (Since D is the
direct exchange operator, this creates mammoth confusion!) Some of Gil's
posts also have been hard to read because of HTML italics flags
and other formatting instructions surrounding variables.
If I am the only straight-email dinosaur on the list, then I will suffer in
silence. But if it is not too much trouble, could direct posts to OPE be
done in plain text, so that they can be read easily?
Much appreciated.
david
David Laibman