From: poopdeville@...
Date: 2006-11-01T06:20:15+09:00
Subject: Re: can there be a "with" construction?


Kalman Noel wrote:
<snip>
> >> It seems to me that it's impossible to invent a useful name for this
> >> method with the term �eigen� in it, so a discussion should be possible
> >> without too much battle.
> > Interesting.  Why "eigen"?
>
> (NB: I wrote �impossible�, not �possible�.)  I intended to hint at the term
> �eigenclass�, which is an example of a Ruby concept with more than one name.
> It naming sometimes enjoys heavy discussions.

Whoops, sorry.  I read your sentence as saying it was *impossible* to
name the method *without* the term "eigen" in it.  My mistake.

>
> > I don't know much German, but as far as I know, "eigen" means something along
> > the lines of "characteristic of" or "particular to".
>
> It does. The inventors of the term �eigenclass� have supposingly thought of the
> mathematical words �eigenvector� and �eigenvalue�. (You get them when solving
> the characteristic equation of a matrix, assuming I got the English terms
> right.) �Characteristic� and �eigen� mean the same here.

Yes, you got the terms right.

'cid 'ooh