--- By JLS
----- for the GC
DOCTOROW was commenting that back in 1983, when he presented his views on the conditional probability of "p ) q" and other matters, it was suggested to him that a few generalisations could be reached by further focus on variables.
As he notes, x, y, z, ... have an open texture about them (he wouldn't use, wrongly, that expression -- I mean: it IS the wrong expression) that "A, B, C, ..." don't.
And yes, it is the Arab thing:
From wiki, variable:
"in Arabic, "شَيْء" (pronounced /shai/) means “thing”. This was taken, by some ignorant Spaniards, into Old Spanish with the pronunciation [shai/, which was written, still more ignorantly, "xei". It was soon, habitually abbreviated to something briefer, since 'xei', these Spaniards thought, was a moutfhul. It was then written merely "x", for the first letter of 'xei'. This is still the customary variable name in many fields today". (slightly adapted).
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Of course the Griceian variable(s) has(have) to be distinguish from the special Gricean 'index'. From wiki, variable:
ReplyDelete"In the identity
n n2 + n
Sigma i = ---------
i=1 2
the variable "i" is a summation variable which designates in turn each of the integers 1, 2, ..., n. It is also called an index because its variation is over a discrete set of values). On the other hand, "n" is a parameter. It does not vary within the formula."
A Good Griceian will distinguish between 'x' qua variable and 'X' qua indeterminate. From wiki, variable:
ReplyDelete"When studying the polynomial as an
object in itself, x is taken to be
an indeterminate, and would often
be written with a capital letter
[X] instead to indicate this status."
Then there is lambda. Still with wiki:
ReplyDelete"Jane-i hurt herself-i. (interpretation #1: herself = Jane)
*Jane-i hurt herself-j. (interpretation #2: herself = a female that is not Jane)
"Note that the coreference binding can be represented using a lambda expression. The sentence with the reflexive could be represented as ((λx(x hurt x))(Jane))."
And then of course Grice also used (Ax) ('all') and (Ex) ('some' ('at least one')).