This definition says that it "attaches "te'ai ni'u pa" to all
subsequent unit-selbri in the tanru" (or is essentially equivalent to
doing so). We should reinforce that this means that we do not have the
"per second per second" issue which arises in English. For example, in
English, "meters per second per second" means m*(s^(-2)) = m/(s^(-2)).
(This is even though it could conceivably be construed to be equivalent to
just m). In Lojban, the former meaning would simply be "mitre fei'u
snidu te'ai re" or "mitre fei'u snidu (bo?) pi'ai snidu"; the
latter, on the other hand, would be given by "mitre fei'u snidu fei'u
snidu" (see below).

Nesting should probably also be explicitly handled. (The obvious meaning
is that it reciprocates, which is an involution). In other words, count
how many "fei'u"s precede the given unit in the relevant construct; if the
number is even, then the unit is in the numerator; if the number is odd,
then that unit is in the denominator.


The scope should be elaborated too. I personally think that it should
group everything previous to it as a unit until it hits (from the right to
left) the first number coefficient (units-mantissa), mekso operator, or
something like "li", "lo", or "cu"; so, "ki'otre tei'a re fei'u"
means "square kilometers per […]" rather than "km^(2/[…])", which is
pragmatically absurd and a utility which can be gained by the usage of
other words; meanwhile, it should continue until the end of the
units-string - in particular, "pi'ai" and "te'ai" have higher priority
than this word; so, "mitre fei'u snidu bo pi'ai snidu" is the same as
"mitre fei'u snidu pi'ai snidu", and both would mean 'm/(s^2)'; the issue
is that it would need a terminator (although any mekso operator without
"bo" would work just as well).


Oh, and these words essentially make units (whatever those may be) a
special subclass in BRIVLA. I think that that should be documented
somewhere. I guess that they could be applied to non-units and simply
yield nonsense (just like the 'SI prefixes' would). For example,
"ki'orxu'e tei'a re fei'u snidu" would be "square kiloreds per second",
which is

Comment #2: Re: Clarification

Curtis W Franks (Wed Apr 24 18:48:25 2019)

> Oh, and these words essentially make units (whatever those may be) a > special subclass in BRIVLA. I think that that should be documented > somewhere. I guess that they could be applied to non-units and simply > yield nonsense (just like the 'SI prefixes' would). For example, > "ki'orxu'e tei'a re fei'u snidu" would be "square kiloreds per second", > which is nonsensical but grammatically proper and expressible. (It might have meaning in a joke or something).

Comment #3: Re: Clarification

Curtis W Franks (Wed Apr 24 18:50:20 2019)

krtisfranks wrote: > This definition says that it "attaches "te'ai ni'u pa" to all > subsequent unit-selbri in the tanru" (or is essentially equivalent to > doing so). We should reinforce that this means that we do not have the > "per second per second" issue which arises in English. For example, in > English, "meters per second per second" means m*(s^(-2)) = m/(s^(-2)). > (This is even though it could conceivably be construed to be equivalent to > just m). In Lojban, the former meaning would simply be "mitre fei'u > snidu te'ai re" or "mitre fei'u snidu (bo?) pi'ai snidu"; the > latter, on the other hand, would be given by "mitre fei'u snidu fei'u > snidu" (see below). > > Nesting should probably also be explicitly handled. (The obvious meaning > is that it reciprocates, which is an involution). In other words, count > how many "fei'u"s precede the given unit in the relevant construct; if the > number is even, then the unit is in the numerator; if the number is odd, > then that unit is in the denominator. > > > The scope should be elaborated too. I personally think that it should > group everything previous to it as a unit until it hits (from the right to > left) the first number coefficient (units-mantissa), mekso operator, or > something like "li", "lo", or "cu"; so, "ki'otre tei'a re fei'u" > means "square kilometers per […]" rather than "km^(2/[…])", which is > pragmatically absurd and a utility which can be gained by the usage of > other words; meanwhile, it should continue until the end of the > units-string - in particular, "pi'ai" and "te'ai" have higher priority > than this word; so, "mitre fei'u snidu bo pi'ai snidu" is the same as > "mitre fei'u snidu pi'ai snidu", and both would mean 'm/(s^2)'; the issue > is that it would need a terminator (although any mekso operator without > "bo" would work just as well). Oh, these words are in selma'o KE. That actually resolves a lot of these issues.