Erratum

Dear Group,

Back in late January I saw a message posted by someone
calling himself "New Guy" asking for proof that 2^7
can never be equal to 3^12. I took the bait and
answered. A couple days later I happened to call a
microtonal friend, a person whose name we all know, to
inquire about something or other (I've forgotten
what). In passing, he mentioned that he'd read my
recent post.

After the phone call ended I was running the
conversation back through my mind and I remembered
that when he had mentioned reading my earlier post, he
had "left the subject hanging", as if he had had
something more to say about it, but I had changed the
subject and we had never gotten back to it. I
ruminated on this for a few seconds, letting the
content of my post run through my mind. Suddenly it
hit me: I had made a grotesque error in my little
tables of the powers of 2 and the powers of 3 - I had
written that 3^2 = 6 instead of 3^2 = 9.

This was even more embarrasing because I continued
barging ahead and even managed to 'prove', using my
faulty table, that no power of 3 can ever equal any
power of 2.

Anyone can make a mistake, of course, but what has
seemed odd to me is that a month has passed and no one
has called my attention to the error. The only
mention of my fault-ridden post was someone's post
praising it! When I detect someone making an error, I
let them know about it. If I make an error, my hope
is that my friends and colleagues will let me know
about it.

Thanks,

-- Mark Rankin

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--- In tuning@y..., Mark Rankin <markrankin95511@y...> wrote:

> Anyone can make a mistake, of course, but what has
> seemed odd to me is that a month has passed and no one
> has called my attention to the error. The only
> mention of my fault-ridden post was someone's post
> praising it! When I detect someone making an error, I
> let them know about it. If I make an error, my hope
> is that my friends and colleagues will let me know
> about it.

me too, but i've been told that i've pissed off a great many people
with my tendency to correct all the errors in the posts on this
lists, so i've backed off quite a bit . . . how ironic.

--- In tuning@y..., Mark Rankin <markrankin95511@y...> wrote:
> This was even more embarrasing because I continued ...

[snip]

> If I make an error, my hope is that my friends and colleagues
> will let me know about it.

"embarrassing" has two s, not one. :)

Cheers,
Jon (who has no idea if it should be two s, two s', two s's or two
s'es...)

--- In tuning@y..., "paulerlich" <paul@s...> wrote:
> me too, but i've been told that i've pissed off a great many people
> with my tendency to correct all the errors in the posts on this
> lists, so i've backed off quite a bit . . . how ironic.

Then again, there is a great wisdom in knowing when and where to
correct a person - correct something that is a simple omission or
typo or slip, and the author may take umbrage. I don't think that you
are as egrigious about it as some people paint you, Paul, but I think
we all strive to be somewhere between the automatic spell checker and
the program with any spell checking disabled.

Maybe knowing when, where, and what kinds of errors to correct is an
art in itself.

Cheers,
Jon

Paul,

The difference between helpfully pointing out a math error and giving
the impression that someone doesn't know what they're talking about
can be as simple as the way one nuances. But if the end result is an
issue, then perhaps it's a difference worth noting.

take care,

--Dan Stearns

----- Original Message -----
From: "paulerlich" <paul@stretch-music.com>
To: <tuning@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 4:16 PM
Subject: [tuning] Re: Erratum

> --- In tuning@y..., Mark Rankin <markrankin95511@y...> wrote:
>
> > Anyone can make a mistake, of course, but what has
> > seemed odd to me is that a month has passed and no one
> > has called my attention to the error. The only
> > mention of my fault-ridden post was someone's post
> > praising it! When I detect someone making an error, I
> > let them know about it. If I make an error, my hope
> > is that my friends and colleagues will let me know
> > about it.
>
> me too, but i've been told that i've pissed off a great many people
> with my tendency to correct all the errors in the posts on this
> lists, so i've backed off quite a bit . . . how ironic.
>
>
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--- In tuning@y..., "jonszanto" <JSZANTO@A...> wrote:

/tuning/topicId_34436.html#34441

> --- In tuning@y..., "paulerlich" <paul@s...> wrote:
> > me too, but i've been told that i've pissed off a great many
people
> > with my tendency to correct all the errors in the posts on this
> > lists, so i've backed off quite a bit . . . how ironic.
>
> Then again, there is a great wisdom in knowing when and where to
> correct a person - correct something that is a simple omission or
> typo or slip, and the author may take umbrage. I don't think that
you
> are as egrigious about it as some people paint you, Paul, but I
think
> we all strive to be somewhere between the automatic spell checker
and
> the program with any spell checking disabled.
>
> Maybe knowing when, where, and what kinds of errors to correct is
an
> art in itself.
>
> Cheers,
> Jon

***You spelled "egregious" wrong, Jon...

JP

--- In tuning@y..., "jpehrson2" <jpehrson@r...> wrote:
> ***You spelled "egregious" wrong, Jon...

ROFLMAO! I love it, Joe! And THAT is why I try to do as much posting
from Eudora (with its wonderful real-time spellcheck).

But was it a typo or a mis-spelling? :)

Cheers,
Jon

But as the result is trivial from the unique factorisation theorem we
did not read the detail....
==John ff