is zero even or odd?
Christopher Garlick
was posted on boston.com, I thought I would see if anyone else noticed
this..
the article said that 11.19.1999 is the last odd day of our lives... it
continued on to say the next odd day would be 01.01.3111. In my opinion
this is not true as I assume zero is a even number? so in truth the next
actuall truly all odd day is 11.11.3111 I emailed boston.com and they have
no replied.
I was just wondering what others thought. I guess it does not matter, most
of us will not be here to bring in this joyous special day.
any thoughts?
Barry Shein
>the article said that 11.19.1999 is the last odd day of our lives... it
>continued on to say the next odd day would be 01.01.3111. In my opinion
>this is not true as I assume zero is a even number? so in truth the next
>actuall truly all odd day is 11.11.3111 I emailed boston.com and they have
>no replied.
But by that reasoning you'd need an infinite number of zeros in front
of the year also because some day it'll be 1 million A.D. or whatever,
therefore no date is only made up of only odd digits.
--
-Barry Shein
Software Tool & Die | b...@world.std.com | http://www.world.com
Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 617-739-0202 | Login: 617-739-WRLD
The World | Public Access Internet | Since 1989 *oo*
Michael Zarlenga
As I recall, zero is neither even nor odd.
Because of this, I think the article was wrong when it claimed
that 2/2/2000 will be the next day with all even digits; that
day will be 2/2/2222.
--
-- Mike Zarlenga
Lee Rudolph
>: is zero even or odd?
>
>As I recall, zero is neither even nor odd.
You're just trolling for someone to come along and say
"never odd or even" backwards and forwards, aren't you?
As a matter of mathematical fact[1], zero is even. This should
also be a matter of standard English usage, but a lengthy and
flame-filled thread on alt.usage.english earlier this year
showed that there are other people who share MZ's opinion.
It's quite unclear how they came to do so.
Lee Rudolph
Professor of Mathematics
[1] Okay, mathematical convention, if you insist. But it's
a damned good convention.
Ron Newman
Zarlenga <zarl...@conan.ids.net> wrote:
> : is zero even or odd?
>
> As I recall, zero is neither even nor odd.
Zero is a multiple of two. Therefore, zero is even.
--
Ron Newman rne...@thecia.net
http://www2.thecia.net/users/rnewman/
Michael Zarlenga
:>: is zero even or odd?
:>As I recall, zero is neither even nor odd.
: You're just trolling for someone to come along and say
: "never odd or even" backwards and forwards, aren't you?
No, I was quite serious.
: As a matter of mathematical fact[1], zero is even. This should
I searched through quite a few math texts I have at home
and was unable to find any solid reference for whether or
not zero was an even number.
Can you provide a citation?
--
-- Mike Zarlenga
Joel B Levin
Michael Zarlenga <zarl...@conan.ids.net> wrote:
}I searched through quite a few math texts I have at home
}and was unable to find any solid reference for whether or
}not zero was an even number.
}
}Can you provide a citation?
I cannot, but if I searched around I could probably find a text or two that
defined an even number as one which yielded a remainder of 0 when divided by
2. By that definition 0 is even.
/J
Julian Lander
by 2.
0 / 2 = 0, with no remainder.
Consequently, 0 is even.
Julian C. Lander
jcla...@mitre.org
** Standard disclaimer, please **
Michael Zarlenga wrote:
>
> In ne.general Lee Rudolph <lrud...@panix.com> wrote:
> :>: is zero even or odd?
>
> :>As I recall, zero is neither even nor odd.
>
> : You're just trolling for someone to come along and say
> : "never odd or even" backwards and forwards, aren't you?
>
> No, I was quite serious.
>
> : As a matter of mathematical fact[1], zero is even. This should
>
> I searched through quite a few math texts I have at home
> and was unable to find any solid reference for whether or
> not zero was an even number.
>
> Can you provide a citation?
>
> --
> -- Mike Zarlenga
Elisabeth Anne Riba
>In ne.general Lee Rudolph <lrud...@panix.com> wrote:
>: As a matter of mathematical fact[1], zero is even. This should
>I searched through quite a few math texts I have at home
>and was unable to find any solid reference for whether or
>not zero was an even number.
>Can you provide a citation?
From http://www.majon.com/testprep/strat-gmatm.html, it says:
"The integer zero is neither positive nor negative, but it is
even: 0 = 2(0)."
For more details, try "Ask Dr. Math" at
http://forum.swarthmore.edu/dr.math/problems/goldberg.3.31.97.html and
http://forum.swarthmore.edu/dr.math/problems/wendy6.17.98.html
I did a Google search on "zero even odd" and came up with other
references as well, but these should be sufficient.
--
---------------> Elisabeth Anne Riba * l...@netcom.com <---------------
Marriage, n. The state or condition of a community consisting of a
master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two.
Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
Ron Newman
The Nothing That Is : A Natural History of Zero
by Robert Kaplan
Hardcover - 256 pages (October 1999)
Oxford Univ Pr (Trade); ISBN: 0195128427
--
Ron Newman rne...@thecia.net
http://www2.thecia.net/users/rnewman/home.html
Adam Kippes
> As a matter of mathematical fact[1], zero is even.
But of course... it *is* between two odd numbers, right? <g>
-- AK
--
adam....@pobox.com
PGP keys available from servers
Lee Rudolph
>In ne.general Lee Rudolph <lrud...@panix.com> wrote:
>:>: is zero even or odd?
>
>:>As I recall, zero is neither even nor odd.
...
>: As a matter of mathematical fact[1], zero is even. This should
>
>I searched through quite a few math texts I have at home
>and was unable to find any solid reference for whether or
>not zero was an even number.
>
>Can you provide a citation?
Sure thing. _The Structure of the Real Number System_, Leon W.
Cohen and Gertrude Ehrlich (Van Nostrand, 1963) [University
Series in Undergraduate Mathematics, ed. John L. Kelley and
Paul R. Halmos]. Exercise 2.2.7 (p. 50) begins with the
definition "An integer a is _even_ if a = 2k for some k \in Z.
An integer a is _odd_ if a = 2k+1 for some k \in Z." Here Z
stands for the set of integers, and it has previously been
noted that 0 \in Z. Since 0 = 2\times 0, 0 is even. QED
Lee Rudolph
*still* Professor of Mathematics (so why can't I just cite
myself, eh?), Ph.D. (M.I.T.), M-O-U-S-E
Aldo Pignotti
> Can you provide a citation?
Yes, please. I remember asking one of my math professors if
zero was odd or even and he said it was a "special" case
and laughing about it.
--
It ain't no sin
to be glad you're alive - the boss
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Dick Margulis
Carl Witthoft wrote:
>
> Look: the NUMBER is 1. If you write it as "01" it's still just plain
> 1 . It's only different to a string editor, but by definition strings
> are not numbers.
> --
However, the original article was misquoted. The observation was about a
date with all digits odd, not with all values odd. Otherwise 11/29/1999
would trump 11/19/99. In any case, leading zeroes kind spoil the fun,
because you can arbitrarily prepend them to any number.
Carl Witthoft
<Pine.SV4.4.10.991121...@Y.coe.neu.edu>, the light of
reason befell Christopher Garlick <cgar...@coe.neu.edu> who thus
proposed:
->I know this is not a mathematical ng. but since the the 'odd day' article
->was posted on boston.com, I thought I would see if anyone else noticed
->this..
->
->the article said that 11.19.1999 is the last odd day of our lives... it
->continued on to say the next odd day would be 01.01.3111. In my opinion
->this is not true as I assume zero is a even number? so in truth the next
->actuall truly all odd day is 11.11.3111 I emailed boston.com and they have
->no replied.
Good thing you didn't ask a math group :-) .
Look: the NUMBER is 1. If you write it as "01" it's still just plain
1 . It's only different to a string editor, but by definition strings
are not numbers.
--
Carl Witthoft c...@world.std.com ca...@aoainc.com http://world.std.com/~cgw
Got any old pinball machines for sale?
Barry Margolin
Witthoft) wrote:
>Look: the NUMBER is 1. If you write it as "01" it's still just plain
>1 . It's only different to a string editor, but by definition strings
>are not numbers.
The issue is about numerals, not numbers. A numeral is the representation
of a number as a string of digits in some particular base. "01" and "1"
are different numerals that represent the same number.
But the simple answer is that leading zeroes are insignificant, so it
would be silly to include them in determining the all-oddness or
all-evenness of a numeral.
--
Barry Margolin, bar...@alum.mit.edu
GTE Internetworking, Burlington, MA
Joseph Teller
>Anyone interested in this subject should check out the following new book:
>
>The Nothing That Is : A Natural History of Zero
>by Robert Kaplan
>
>Hardcover - 256 pages (October 1999)
>Oxford Univ Pr (Trade); ISBN: 0195128427
We're still waiting for our copy to arrive... its very popular, and
thus hard to get from the shops....
Joseph Teller joet...@mindspring.com
"Put Some Fantasy Back In Your Life!"
The Fantasy Library
http://www.fantasylibrary.com
Ron Newman
joet...@mindspring.com wrote:
> On 22 Nov 1999 15:57:57 -0500, Ron Newman <rne...@thecia.net> wrote:
>
> >Anyone interested in this subject should check out the following new book:
> >
> >The Nothing That Is : A Natural History of Zero
> >by Robert Kaplan
> >
> >Hardcover - 256 pages (October 1999)
> >Oxford Univ Pr (Trade); ISBN: 0195128427
>
> We're still waiting for our copy to arrive... its very popular, and
> thus hard to get from the shops....
Try WordsWorth in Harvard Square. They sponsored a reading by this
author last week, and had plenty of books for sale.
Joseph Teller
>> >The Nothing That Is : A Natural History of Zero
>> >by Robert Kaplan
>> >
>> >Hardcover - 256 pages (October 1999)
>> >Oxford Univ Pr (Trade); ISBN: 0195128427
>>
>Try WordsWorth in Harvard Square. They sponsored a reading by this
>author last week, and had plenty of books for sale.
I'll have to drop by there.... we ordered it when I heard the author
doing Chris Lydon's show a short while back from Amazon, but haven't
seen it yet. If I can get it local I'll cancel the order....
Ron Newman
<383c3be4...@news.mindspring.com>, fantas...@mindspring.com stated...
>>> >The Nothing That Is : A Natural History of Zero
>>> >by Robert Kaplan
>>> >
>>> >Hardcover - 256 pages (October 1999)
>>> >Oxford Univ Pr (Trade); ISBN: 0195128427
>>>
>>Try WordsWorth in Harvard Square. They sponsored a reading by this
>>author last week, and had plenty of books for sale.
>
>I'll have to drop by there.... we ordered it when I heard the author
>doing Chris Lydon's show a short while back from Amazon, but haven't
>seen it yet. If I can get it local I'll cancel the order....
Please do. You are lucky enough to live in a place with great
local bookstores -- WordsWorth, Harvard Bookstore, Brookline Booksmith.
Help keep them open and keep your money circulating locally.
--
Ron Newman rne...@thecia.net
http://www2.thecia.net/users/rnewman/home.html