Reading the documentation
Ben Bacarisse
ben.usenet at bsb.me.uk
Thu Aug 24 21:25:25 EDT 2017
Steve D'Aprano <steve+python at pearwood.info> writes:
> On Fri, 25 Aug 2017 09:41 am, bob gailer wrote:
>
>>> Help on built-in function floor in module math:
>>>
>>> floor(...)
>>> floor(x)
>>>
>>> Return the floor of x as an Integral.
>>> This is the largest integer <= x.
> [...]
>
>> I was surprised by the use of "integral". A dictionary search does not
>> (IMHO) support this usage!
>
> Integral \In"te*gral\, a. [Cf. F. int['e]gral. See Integer.]
For me (and I suspect for BG too) the surprise is in its use as a noun.
The capital letter is, presumably, significant because it refers to the
Python class Integral -- a subtype of numbers.
With that in mind, "an Integral" is a shorthand for "an Integral value",
or more fully, maybe, "an instance of numbers.Integral".
> [1913 Webster]
> 1. Lacking nothing of completeness; complete; perfect;
> uninjured; whole; entire.
> [1913 Webster]
>
> A local motion keepeth bodies integral. --Bacon.
> [1913 Webster]
>
> 2. Essential to completeness; constituent, as a part;
> pertaining to, or serving to form, an integer; integrant.
> [1913 Webster]
>
> Ceasing to do evil, and doing good, are the two
> great integral parts that complete this duty.
> --South.
> [1913 Webster]
>
> 3. (Math.)
> (a) Of, pertaining to, or being, a whole number or
> undivided quantity; not fractional.
> (b) Pertaining to, or proceeding by, integration; as, the
> integral calculus.
> [1913 Webster]
The use as a noun is not covered here, though it is only a small step
from other places where membership of a mathematical set has turned the
adjective into a noun. "Rational" and "real" started out as adjectives,
but their use as nouns is now widespread. "The function returns a
real". "The result is a rational". It's much less common for complex
and integral, to the point that it sounds wrong to me.
--
Ben.
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