9 Jun
2004
9 Jun
'04
7:37 p.m.
On Wed, Jun 09, 2004 at 04:16:58 -0500, Jan Depner wrote:
Iff is in the OED: "A written form of abbreviation of the phrase `if
and only if', always read as `if and only if', used in Math. and Logic to
introduce a condition that is necessary as well as sufficient, or a
statement that is implied by and implies the preceding one."
First recorded use is in 1955, J. L. KELLEY Gen. Topology vii. 232 F is
equicontinuous at x iff there is a neighborhood of x whose image under
every member of F is small.
So maybe affordance will go in, in 20 years time :)
- Steve
I have to
disagree with this - it may not be a german word, but it
certainly is an English one - its been in consistant use in scientific
literature for ~30 years.
And iff has been in constant use in mathematics for over 40 years and
shows up in mathematics textbooks and papers but it's still not a
recognized English word. It's not in Webster's Unabridged (although
FUBAR is ;-).