Re:Getting Back to Smalltalk
by ths on Friday December 30, 2011 @04:07PM
(#3409101)
During my math undergrad, the natural numbers were always assumed to start with 0, the rationale being that the natural numbers should enumerate the cardinalities of all finite sets (the empty set, of course, being finite). I guess it depends on one's background.
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Re:Getting Back to Smalltalk
by joe_the_user on Friday December 30, 2011 @04:34PM
(#3409180)
There wasn't such consistency in my math undergrad or masters programs. Further, the Peano postulates definitely involve the natural numbers starting at 1.
Of course, most programmers don't have math degrees and I'd suspect that most people indeed think 1st element of an array starts at 1.