Alex Martelli wrote: > Slawomir Nowaczyk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Thu, 01 Jun 2006 13:40:34 -0700 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > #> Scott David Daniels wrote: #> > Would you say that envelope > > containing five $100 bills is equal to #> > an envelope containing > > five $100 bills with different serial numbers? > > > > #> Yes (unless I was testing the assertion that the second envelope > > did #> not contain counterfeits of the first) > > > > So, what if Bank of America later decided that bills with serial > > numbers containing "7" are no longer valid? > > Then Wachowia would no doubt be happy to take my business away from > BoA;-). > > I suspect you believe BoA is some kind of "official" body -- it > isn't, just like Deutschebank is not one in Germany (rather, > Bundesbank is).
Yeah, it's a funny mistake, but what he meant, is what if the US Treasury Department declared bills with serial numbers containing "7" invalid. That would indeed complete the analogy. And it's a sharp example -- because money is conceived of as fungible, one $100 is as good as another, so two $100 bills compare as equal, whether they are equal or not. Of course, the counter argument is that it's not unlike counting a reflection of a $100 bill as another $100 and concluding that you have $200 (you need two mirrors to double your money, technically ;-)). I don't think there's any way to make it "more logical" -- it's going to break somewhere no matter what assumption you make, so you just have to learn what's really going on in order to avoid confusion. Cheers, Terry -- Terry Hancock ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Anansi Spaceworks http://www.AnansiSpaceworks.com -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
