Recently, in my spare time, I discovered the world's
smallest particle. I named it the goog because it weighs
exactly one billion to the minus googol grams.
Is the
goog infinitesimally small?
Etymology, Etymology, and more Etymology
as well as grammar, usage, euphemism, slang, jargon, semantics (meaning), linguistics, neologism, idiom, word origin, syntax, dialect, lexicon (vocabulary), diction, pidgin, synonym, antonym, homonym, cant, argot, lingo, and redundancy.
The critically-acclaimed board game
MooT
consists of tough questions about the nuances of the English language.
Answer:
no
That which is so small that it cannot be measured is
infinitesimally small.
Please note that these are draft questions for the board game MooT.
If you spot an error or disagree with anything I've said here,
please let me know and I'll fix it.
(the Mootguy)
Feedback
So it was measured ? therefore ? it can not be that which
CAN NOT be measured ? and therefore be ? infinitesimally small.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh ? where do you come up with these things!!! I will
not be detered (even if I never get these questions right) ? there have been
times when I've hovered over the correct answer.
Still
This is immensely engaging ? frustrating ? but engaging! Let me leave you with
this question ? who, exactly, is your intended audience?
The people who sign up for this
list.
x-dtessaro__aol.com
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Who are you that you might give names to things?
Anyone can give names to things. Whether
the names stick is up to others.
x-jcward__cox.net
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In Galileo's time many things were not yet measured, therefore these
particles, according to their perception, were infinitesimally small, although,
now that they can be measured, they're not.
So, it all
comes down to whether we can measure them or not!
x-jarsxy__yahoo.com
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Can a thing be infinitesimally large?
Not according to the Concise Oxford
Dictionary.
x-justinlrbarker__hotmail.com
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Like multiplying any number by zero (or vice versa) the
result must be zero. Infinity by zero is still zero. Googool is the
mathematical infinity; so is zero. Multiply any thing by googool and the result
is still, by definition, googool.
The word googol denotes the number 10 raised to the
power 100. This is a whole number; thus, has a finite value. If you multiply x
times googol, the result is x googols.
x-anonymous
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Want
to know everything about infinity? Read "Everything and More" if you have the
math background.
x-xardox__charter.net
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The answer to this question *could* be yes, depending on what counts
as a discovery and what counts as a measurement. You can discover things by
inferring their necessity without measuring them (we did this with black holes,
for instance). Measurement is a very untidy concept.
It
can't be "yes." The question defines a quantity that has an exact measurable
weight. That which is infinitesimally small is by definition not
measurable.
x-richard.dub@mail.mcgill.ca
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Technically,I agree with this answer. However, language is useful
for its intent as well as its accuracy, so I would also be inclined to accept
"infinitesimally small" as a description of anything that's smaller than
minute. The goog, hence, qualifies.
As a board game,
MooT has to be strict with its definitions: there has to be either a right or a
wrong answer. This is achieved by using the definitions provided by the Concise
Oxford Dictionary. Outside of MooT world, the meaning of words is less precise,
but the words are no less useful.
x-lornamacphee__aol.com
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