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Orthogonality and Disaster Recovery (fwd)

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NODE d21d356eOrthogonality and Disaster Recovery (fwd)
Forwarded message:

> Date: Sat, 25 Oct 1997 13:52:05 -0700
> From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
> Subject: Orthogonality and Disaster Recovery

> One of the themes of modern computing I strongly support is that of
> "orthogonality," or clean functionality.

Any idea how a term meaning 'at right angles' came to hold all the various
interpretations it now does?...

I see this word in a lot of my reading and it almost never implies any sort
of 'indipendent multi-variant reference system'.


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NODE 4a760eaaRe: Orthogonality and Disaster Recovery (fwd)
On Sat, Oct 25, 1997 at 04:28:52PM -0500, Jim Choate wrote:
> Forwarded message:
> 
> > Date: Sat, 25 Oct 1997 13:52:05 -0700
> > From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
> > Subject: Orthogonality and Disaster Recovery
> 
> > One of the themes of modern computing I strongly support is that of
> > "orthogonality," or clean functionality.
> 
> Any idea how a term meaning 'at right angles' came to hold all the various
> interpretations it now does?...
> 
> I see this word in a lot of my reading and it almost never implies any sort
> of 'indipendent multi-variant reference system'.

I can't believe that you haven't studied vector spaces, Jim.  In that 
particular niche of mathematics, the meaning you quote is precisely the 
meaning of 'orthogonal'.  Vector algebra underlies a very large part 
of mathematics, and modern physics would not exist without it.

-- 
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