Re: tests and inference?

On Thu, Dec 16, 2004 at 09:19:31AM -0600, Dan Connolly wrote:
> 
> On Thu, 2004-12-16 at 10:09 -0500, Kendall Clark wrote:
> > On Thu, Dec 16, 2004 at 09:02:13AM -0600, Dan Connolly wrote:
> > 
> > > How about adding...
> > > 
> > >   "The dataset gives the exact graph against which the query is
> > >   evaluated (no further inference is used to determine the
> > >   input graph)."
> > 
> > Better: "The dataset gives the precise graph against which the query
> > is to be evaluated: inference must not be used to determine or modify
> > the input graph."
> 
> That's a misuse of "must not", IMO. We don't write
> "the sum of 2 and 2 must be 4"; we just
> write "the sum of 2 and 2 is 4".

"Must not" expresses the prohibition in perfectly ordinary
English. There is no prohibition re: arithmetic. Bad analogy.

But I'm not the editor, who's free to use whatever language he
prefers.

> Also, graphs aren't mutable.

Huh?

Kendall