Re:Mathematicians should stop naming things after each other
by iguy on Saturday September 05, 2020 @06:40PM
(#24387420)
Isn't Allen the inventor's name?
Re:Mathematicians should stop naming things after each other
by xxs on Saturday September 05, 2020 @09:01PM
(#24388101)
It is a brand name.
Re:Mathematicians should stop naming things after each other
by iguy on Sunday September 06, 2020 @02:18AM
(#24389397)
Sure. So is Ford.
But back in 1909, it was also the name of the guy who signed the patent. Whose company name was his surname.
Re:Mathematicians should stop naming things after each other
by xxs on Sunday September 06, 2020 @04:11AM
(#24389847)
>"where naming is more like branding"
I meant it followed the branding pattern, so it happened the brand was derived from the name.
Re:Mathematicians should stop naming things after each other
by iguy on Sunday September 06, 2020 @05:26AM
(#24390107)
I guess there's no commerce in mathematical theorems. But the use of his name as a generic (not just for products sold by the company which bought the trademark) seems similar in that it's a community decision -- we could have all decided to say "hex wrench" instead.
Often the closest thing we do to the whole 'Thurston maps are Thurston-equivalent to polynomials, unless they have Thurston obstructions' thing is that we qualify our statements about programming entities by the programming language or platform to which the statement applies. So you might reasonably have a statement like 'A JSON value consists of an array of JSON values, a map of string keys to JSON values, or a primitive value', which sounds just as self-referential as the Thurston example, but because it's called a JSON value, not a Crockford value, it sounds less conceited.