How I See Numbers

Re:How I See Numbers by layer8 on Thursday March 03, 2022 @06:06PM (#30548269)

Strings with string concatenation form a monoid [1] (natural numbers with addition form a commutative monoid, and integers with addition form an abelian group). Incidentally, that was literally the topic of the first class in my first CS semester. :)

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoid

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How I See Numbers by dreamcompiler on Friday March 04, 2022 @12:09AM (#30550927)

Off-topic language quirk: It seems odd to me that monoids can be 'commutative' while groups can be 'abelian' but both adjectives mean the same thing. Alas, if the language were consistent this joke wouldn't exist:

Q: What's purple and commutes?

A: An abelian grape.

[ Parent | on HN ]