Re: gradu is broken

[Logical Language Group <lojbab>]

la nitcion. cusku di'e

> Lojbab is going to invoke divine punishment on me for this, but it seems an
> obvious oversight.

la zipf. joi la r. joi la djig. joi la talen. dapma do

> I think it makes all the sense of the world to make gradu: x1 is x2 units by
> standard x3, where the unit measures property x4. This would make "it's 9
> volts", da dicyda'erau li so, consistent with "it's 9 grams", da grake li so.

I think you are basically correct, provided that one concern is resolved:
how do we say something like "the meter is the MKS unit of length"?
Here "the meter" (which is hard to express in itself, but which I take
to be something like "tu'a loi mitre") falls into the current x1 place of
"gradu" very naturally:

	tu'a loi mitre cu gradu la mykysyc. loi nu clani

I can't reconcile this, however, with the comment "[magnitude]" after
x1 in the current gi'uste.

> Yes?

So there is some kind of confusion that needs straightening out.
Changing "gradu"'s place structure will allow it to be used to make
new units of measurement, but will eliminate the ability to talk >about<
units of measurement.

ni'o

I went back to the original article by Scott Layson (TL3/1:70), wherein
the current measurement place structures were proposed, and noted that
he made a suggestion which didn't get taken up into Lojban: an x4 place
for "rupnu", reflecting the date as of which the monetary unit is
meaningful.  Note that this is not the same as the date attached to the
entire bridi:

	ca la socinan. le djima be pa xarju cu rupnu
		li cinono la merko la zepanan.
	simultaneous-with 93-year the price of 1 pig is-in-dollars
		the-number 300 by-standard named "U.S." as-of 71-year
	In 1993, the price of a pig was US$300 in 1971 dollars.

I'm not proposing a definite place structure yet, because I don't yet have
a name for this x4 place; I'm looking into what economists call the 1971-ness
of a 1971 dollar.

-- 
John Cowan		sharing account <lojbab@access.digex.net> for now
		e'osai ko sarji la lojban.