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I know this is off topic, but the inconsistent use of "i.e." and "e.g." is particularly bad in this article. If you are not sure of the difference in your own w
by herodotus 5y ago
I know this is off topic, but the inconsistent use of "i.e." and "e.g." is particularly bad in this article. If you are not sure of the difference in your own writing, use "that is" in stead of "i.e." and use "for example" instead of "e.g."
Notice in this article, in the section entitled "What is the correct result of f(x)?" they say "e.g. ln(x)" in one case and "i.e. ln(x)" three sentences later. Well which is it? It is not just that I am a curmudgeon. Precision matters. When they say, for example, "Everyone uses math libraries (i.e. libm)" do they mean "Everyone uses the libm math library" or, more likely, "Everyone uses math libraries such as libm". Yes, the resolution in this case is fairly obvious, but I would get much more out of the article if I was not distracted by these slight inadvertent ambiguities and misuses.
- jasonwatkinspdx 5y agoThe nemonic I was taught was "In Explanation" and "Example Given."
- josephg 5y agoI always just think of them as “in effect” and “(for) example”, which is their direct expansion. But that distinction makes sense to me because I use the phrase “in effect” in speech as well sometimes. It hadn’t occurred to me that this is unusual - I suppose it is? I wonder if it’s a aus / US cultural difference? (I’m Australian) or maybe something I picked up years ago as a grad student?
- macintux 5y agoI just think “egsample” and then i.e. must be the other one.