4 ms·
I think he may have meant 1/12th rather than 1/2th of the speed of light, but I must say I'm very tempted now to start calling one half a "tooth" instead.
by ceautery 13y ago
I think he may have meant 1/12th rather than 1/2th of the speed of light, but I must say I'm very tempted now to start calling one half a "tooth" instead.
- shasta 13y agoMaybe not "tooth", but why do we use the phrases "a third" and "a fourth" for fractions, but not "a second" for half?
- arethuza 13y agoPerhaps because of the potential confusion with "a second" being used to mean "another" i.e. 2X rather than 1/2X. e.g. I could eat a second pizza Do I mean another pizza or half a pizza? [OK it should be phrased as "a second of a pizza" - but that is rather close to "a second pizza"]
- warbastard 13y agoYou can say "a third of a pizza" and not be confused though, so there's no difference in saying "a second of a pizza" if that were indeed an accepted use of the word.
- wernercd 13y agoSecondth?
- jperras 13y agoNot that I have a better answer, I believe the phrase "a third of a pizza" is just as confusing.
- arethuza 13y agoYou are, of course, quite correct. I should make a mental note to comment on HN while actually focusing on something else..... :-)
- bmohlenhoff 13y agoThird can be used both as a noun and an adjective. Noun form: "A third of a pizza". Adjective form: "A third pizza".
- mcdoh 13y agoBecause we should be saying "one third", "one fourth", etc., but it's a little bit faster to say "a third".
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- cruise02 13y agoNo, he meant 1/2 the speed of light. The speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s, so about 300,000 kilometers per second. Half that is the speed he mentioned.