4 ms·
A commendable effort to preserve history. Chapter VI has an irritating equation that claims the fourth root of one-hundredth equals one-sixth. It should be ob
by tempodox 2y ago
A commendable effort to preserve history.
Chapter VI has an irritating equation that claims the fourth root of one-hundredth equals one-sixth. It should be obvious even without the help of any computing aid that this is wrong. Was it a typo or what else may have led to that mistake?
- rachofsunshine 2y agoThe denominator of that fraction is meant to be interpreted as what we would write today as 3.2, not 3x2, and indeed fourth root 100 = about 3.16. The interpunct (the mid-line dot you're interpreting as multiplication) was historically a common way of marking what we now mark with a . character. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separator#English-speaking_countries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separator#English-spea...