Re: Positive random number

James Kuyper schrieb:

The point is: It's a question a definition. Your answer is much too
dogmatic.

There might be obscure discussions among mathematicians in which such a
definition is used, but I believe that in almost all contexts, the
overwhelming majority of the mathematically literate population consider
0 to be neither positive nor negative. I don't think it's excessively
dogmatic to insist on interpreting it that way in this context.

They are not obscure. Consider the work of Peano
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Peano) which in his older works
state that the positive Integers start at 1, while at a later release
(Peano.G.: Formulaire de mathématiques 5 Bde. Turin, Bocca 1895-1908) he
states they start at zero.

It is *not* something that "almost all mathematicians" agree about, it
is primarily a question of usefulness. Both variants are common, it even
depends which university you're attending. Dogmatism are stupid, there
are good reasons why zero should be considered a positive integer and
there are also good reasons why it shouldn't. It's important to base
your decision on reason, not on "that's what I think everybody is doing".

Then again - in a trueley mathematic sense - almost all mathematicians
consider zero to be nonpositive. Almost all of them agree that zero is a
positive number, too. This is because "almost" in a mathematic sense
means "except for a finite number of exceptions" :-)

Greetings,
Johannes

--
"Viele der Theorien der Mathematiker sind falsch und klar
Gotteslästerlich. Ich vermute, dass diese falschen Theorien genau
deshalb so geliebt werden." -- Prophet und Visionär Hans Joss aka
HJP in de.sci.mathematik <4740ad67$0$3811$5402220f@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
.

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