Re: [PATCH] pass constants as first argument to st_mult()

From: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Date: Aug 3, 2016, 19:13 UTC
Message-ID: <20160803191334.jflia6cqxqx2uqjx@sigill.intra.peff.net>
In-Reply-To: <xmqq60rkglym.fsf@gitster.mtv.corp.google.com>

On Mon, Aug 01, 2016 at 03:31:45PM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Show 15 quoted lines

> Jeff King <peff@peff.net> writes:
> 
> >> *1* I have a slight suspicion that this is cultural, i.e. how
> >> arithmetic is taught in grade schools.  When an apple costs 30 yen
> >> and I have 5 of them, I was taught to multiply 30x5 to arrive at
> >> 150, not 5x30=150, and I am guessing that is because the former
> >> matches the natural order of these two numbers (cost, quantity) in
> >> the language I was taught.
> >
> > You might be right. I was trying to figure out what is "natural" for me
> > in these cases, but after thinking about it for 2 minutes, I'm pretty
> > sure anything resembling "natural" is lost as I try to out-think myself. :)
> 
> Do native English speakers (or more in general Europeans) think of
> the apple example more like "5 apples, 30 cents each", and do 5x30?

I think in my head I rewrite any multiplication like "N of M" as having "N" as the smaller number. I.e., it is conceptually simpler to me to count five 30's, then 30 five's (even though I do not implement it in my head as a sequence of additions, of course; I'd probably do that particular case as "half of ten 30's").

I have no idea if that's cultural or not, though. I'm pretty sure "half of ten 30's" was not taught in schools. All I remember of grade school multiplication is them insisting we write down all of our steps, no matter how trivial the problem would be to do in our heads. :)

-Peff