On Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:57:56 -0500, Denenberg, Ray wrote > (See also related posting "multiple dates".) > > On the issue of what does '196x' mean - does it mean "all of the > discrete years 1960 through 1969", as I proposed, or should it mean, > as Ed proposes, the continuous interval, and thus the decade, the 1960s? Actually... I suggested that 196x is 1960s as a decade with the precision of decade. > I don't see too much harm in Ed's proposal, "continuous interval". A "continuous interval" covering a unit X in precision X is nothing more than, I'd suggest, a discrete date with a precision of X. > And, from looking at recent discussion, my impression is that > nobody (besides Ed) cares much about the issue. I'm not sure.. Even if people don't quite grasp why I still would suggest there is nothing to loose by decoupling precision and accuracy--- as we do in all scientific measurements. > > I do see a the following issues, though. > > first, it would follow that 19xx means 20th century. Or actually no, > I suppose it wouldn't really, since a century is defined to begin at > year 1 - the 20th century begins with year 1901. (This is as opposed > to the definition of a decade - a decade begins with a year ending > in 0.) The point I'm getting to is that there already is a syntax > for century prescribed in ISO 8601: '19' means 20th centtury (there > is no corresponding similar syntax for decade). So, we would need Correct. ISO 8601 has a large number of implicit precisions. 19 means 20th century, 1982 is in year precision, 1982-12 is in month precision, 1882-W12 is in week precision, 1981-12-12 is in day precision.. > to be very careful about all this. 196x would mean the decade of the > 1960s. 19xx would mean the interval 1900 through 1999 but it would > not mean the 20th century. Perhaps this really isn't a problem at > all, just a cautionary note. > > Second, we would then have three (!) syntaxes for an interval (for a > decade, for example). The 1960s would be (1) 1960/1969 (2) 1960- > -1960 (3) 196x. 1) 1960/1969 is an interval with precision of year. 2) I'm not sure what it is 3) Its, I've suggested, the decade of the 1960s with the precision of decade-- the missing link. 19xx and 19 are, I think, semantically equivalent. > Third, there is a possible utility in allowing the x notation for > multiple dates, but see related posting "multiple dates". > > Thoughts, please. > > --Ray -- Edward C. Zimmermann, NONMONOTONIC LAB Basis Systeme netzwerk, Munich Ges. des buergerl. Rechts Office Leo (R&D): Leopoldstrasse 53-55, D-80802 Munich, Federal Republic of Germany http://www.nonmonotonic.net Umsatz-St-ID: DE130492967