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Quotation summary |
To Speak Of Many Things: The Lojban sumti
The Lojban Reference Grammar |
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What are pro-sumti and pro-bridi? What are they for? |
The sumti which refer to numbers consist of the cmavo ``li'' (of selma'o LI) followed by an arbitrary Lojban mekso, or mathematical expression. This can be anything from a simple number up to the most complicated combination of numbers, variables, operators, and so on. Much more information on numbers is given in Chapter 18. Here are a few examples of increasing complexity:
15.1) li vo
the-number four
4
15.2) li re su'i re
the-number two plus two
2 + 2
15.3) li .abu bopi'i xy. bote'a re
su'i by. bopi'i xy. su'i cy.
the-number a times x to-power 2
plus b times x plus c
ax2 + bx + c
An alternative to ``li'' is ``me'o'', also of selma'o LI.
Number expressions beginning with ``me'o'' refer to the actual
expression, rather than its value. Thus Example 15.1 and Example
15.2 above have the same meaning, the number four, whereas
15.4) me'o vo
the-expression four
``4''
and
15.5) me'o re su'i re
the-expression two plus two
``2+2''
refer to different pieces of text.
The implicit quantifier for numbers and mathematical expressions is ``su'o'', because these sumti are analogous to ``lo'' descriptions: they refer to things which actually are numbers or pieces of text. In the case of numbers (with ``li''), this is a distinction without a difference, as there is only one number which is 4; but there are many texts ``4'', as many as there are documents in which that numeral appears.
Last modified: Thu Oct 24 16:02:43 PDT 2002.
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