Question Arman Kobzhasarov in lesson «IF conditions and programs that make decisions», course «Programming fundamentals»
Hey Rakhim. Your english lessons are awesome. Keep it up! I'd like to point to one thing: when you say the word like "-number" it is correct to say "negative number" instead of "minus number", isn't it?)
Hey Arman, thank you!
Both are correct and acceptable. Actually, some mathematicians think "minus" should be used instead of "negative". All of the math and CS teachers I know prefer "minus". The situation is different in US high schools, though, where "negative" is preferred. This term was introduced in the 60s in New Math.
Few references:
I. I Want to Be a Mathematician: An Automathography by Paul R. Halmos:
At the same time, by the way, I'd take advantage of the occasion and tell my students that the exponential that 2 is the logarithm of is not 102 but e2; that's how mathematicians use the language. The use of ln is a textbook vulgarization. Did you ever hear a mathematician speak of the Riemann surface of lnz? And speaking of vulgarizations, did you ever hear a mathematician pronounce "−3−3" as "negative three"?
II. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-keith-devlin/how-do-you-read-3_b_1338163.html
III. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.usage.english/c6D4vl6fxmo
IV. https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_number
Thanks!
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