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tyt. tyt.

>Date:         Tue, 21 Jan 1992 05:36:16 -0500
>From: Logical Language Group <lojbab%GREBYN.COM@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu>
>X-To:         lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu

>"ty." by itself is a word which is in selma'o BY and represents the lerfu "t".
>Grammtically, it can appear as a sumti, in which case it is a variable like
>"ko'a", but most likely assigned to something that starts with the letter "t"
>for easy mnemonics.

Would it?  Or would it mean the letter T, for use in discussions about
typography or something?  (ty cu barda lerfu...)

>you can also use 't' as a number in
>"ty. le vo prenu"   t of the 4 persons
>and similar instances.

Actually, this isn't quite true.  If you check the grammar, you'll find
that numbers must start with a PA word, so "ty le vo prenu" is really two
sumti: "ty" and "le vo prenu".  Sorry, lojbab.  You're more authoritative
than I, but the grammar is more authoritative than you.  Not sure how you'd
get "t of the four persons", though.

>Regarding 't' in mekso, "li ty." is the number represented by t, and
>"li ty. su'i pa" is the number "t+1".  This should be distinguished from the
>string/expression (the mekso) that represents these numbers
>"me'o ty." is a string representing the number represented by t, or "t" itself.
>and me'o ty. su'i pa is the string representing the mekso "t+1".

I think using "li <letteral-string/number>" should be construed more
broadly than stictly as a number.  It should be any conceptual value.
After all, in some sense "one-half" isn't a true "number" (I dare you to
show me something that's half a rock), or -1 (place negative one apples in
this bowl, please) or sqrt(-1) (how many pens do I have to have before I
have i of them?), but they are valid "numbers", i.e.  values, for their
applications.  For the right situations (when you're dealing with
non-discrete quantities, balances, and assorted mathematical and physical
properties respectively), they make perfect sense.  Similarly, T is a value
in the LISP logic system, so "li ty" should mean "the value represented by
T".  In many situations, this will be a number.  To a LISPer, it may be the
Truth value.  This dichotomy is the usual way most programmers I've spoken
to think.

~mark