jbovlaste
a lojban dictionary editing system
User:
Pass:

Home
Get A Printable Dictionary
Search Best Words
Recent Changes
How You Can Help
valsi - All
valsi - Preferred Only
natlang - All
natlang - Preferred Only
Languages
XML Export
user Listing
Report Bugs
Utilities
Status
Help
Admin Request
Create Account
Discussion of "vajlani"

Comment #1: What do you mean "significant"?
Curtis W Franks (Fri Sep 4 04:02:56 2015)
Comment #2: Re: What do you mean
Jonathan (Fri Sep 4 04:58:56 2015)

Yes, there is somewhat of a difference between the laic definition of
significant, and the technical one... perhaps it could use a "by standard"
place, though I'm not sure how that would help disambiguate.

Comment #3: Re: What do you mean
Ilmen (Fri Sep 4 13:59:11 2015)

spheniscine wrote:
> Yes, there is somewhat of a difference between the laic definition of
> significant, and the technical one... perhaps it could use a "by
standard"
> place, though I'm not sure how that would help disambiguate.

Well indeed, I have neglected the English definition, I'm sorry. You can
look at the Lojban version for a more precise definition.

I've created this word because I felt a need for it for formally defining
barda, so that something S is large in dimention D (relation between
something and a number) as compared to norm N (plural/set) if and only if
the number such that S is in relation D with it is greater by a significant
amount than the arithmetic mean of the list L that is such that for each
member M of N there is a specific entry in L containing the number that M
is in relation D with.

I'm unsure whether the "by a significant amount" is needed for defining
barda (largeness/greatness); I've included it as a result of a discussion
I had with another Lojbanist who thought that, if, for example, given a set
of people S among which there's a person P that is taller than average by
say one milimeter, it wouldn't be enough for saying that P is tall as
compared with S, and that for being tall, P should be "significantly"
taller than average. I don't know whether that's really needed though. I'm
also unsure how to define accurately this notion of "significant amount".

Having in mind the motive that led me to create this word, any suggestion
for improving the English or Lojban definition would be more than welcome.
(Also, it is very possible that one or more further sumti slots are
needed.)

Comment #4: Re: What do you mean
Jonathan (Fri Sep 4 14:18:41 2015)

Part of the problem is what is "normal" is subjective and may depend on the
situation/context. "Small" stars are still "big" compared to many things,
for example. Additionally, statistically, the median is often more
reflective of "typical" amounts than the mean; many real-world values
follow a log-normal distribution or Pareto distribution, such that the
arithmetic mean is significantly higher than the median, and doesn't
reflect what a "typical" example looks like.

All these makes me wonder whether Loglan had it right embedding
comparatives (x1 is taller than x2) into its primitives / gismu :p

Currently, jbovlaste will accept data for 70 languages.
You are not logged in.

  recent changes jbovlaste main
This is jbovlaste, the lojban dictionary system.
The main code was last changed on Wed 07 Oct 2020 05:54:55 PM PDT.
All content is public domain. By submitting content, you agree to place it in the public domain to the fullest extent allowed by local law.
jbovlaste is an official project of the logical language group, and is now headed by Robin Lee Powell.
E-mail him if you have any questions.
care to log in?