tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Sep 28 17:45:34 2000
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math questions
- From: [email protected]
- Subject: math questions
- Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 20:44:33 -0400 (EDT)
Can one chain math operations in Klingon? I'm assuming that the
math verbs (/boq/, etc.) follow the same grammar as other verbs.
For example,
1 + 2 + 3 = ...
*/wej boq cha' boq wa'/ or
*/wej boq cha' 'e' boq wa'/?
Which one is more grammatically proper, given what we know of
Klingon grammar? Or do we not know how to chain this type of
sentence at all?
Another interesting thing is that Klingon grammar seems to
enforce a right-first interpretation, i.e.
1 + 2 + 3 would be interpreted as 1 + (2 + 3), rather than
(1 + 2) + 3 as in English/Earth mathematics.
Also, what about order of precedence? There's good reason
for multiplication to preceed addition in sufficiently
advanced mathematics, and a space-faring race ought to
understand the rules of precedence... though I suppose I
can't make that assumption for Klingon, as MO can throw
another curve.
If I were to say:
2 + 5 x 3 = ?
/cha' boq vagh boq'egh wej; chen nuq?/
(assuming this is legal)
What would the answer be, and why?
(As you can probably tell, I'm really excited by these
revelations about Klingon mathematics. {{=) )
--
De'vID
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