Posted by meg on October 30, 2002 at 19:14:48:
In Reply to: Can of worms, anyone? posted by Joel on October 25, 2002 at 17:57:57:
: : : Itīs 0 a natural number?
: : : Thanks.
: I didn't notice this question on the other board. If I had, I probably would have abstained. But having entered the abyss, I'd like to report that when I answered the question I was merely reporting the opinions of the authors (Susanna Epp and Kenneth Rosen) of both of the Discrete Math textbooks that I'm using this semester, both of whom include 0 in their definitions of natural numbers. Rosen does say that "some people do not consider 0 a natural numbers..."; apparently he uses the word "some" rather loosely.
: On the other hand, it is clear that the set of people who kowtow to the NCTM is somewhat smaller than the set of all mathematicians.
: Perhaps Eric Weisstein has the best idea. His suggestion basically boils down to - don't use that word. There are some references on his web site for anyone who wants to look further...
eh?