Word of the Day

[hummingwolf]

Epsilon:
1. n. A small quantity of anything. "The cost is epsilon." 2. adj. Very small, negligible; less than marginal. "We can get this feature for epsilon cost." 3. `within epsilon of': close enough to be indistinguishable for all practical purposes, even closer than being `within delta of'. "That's not what I asked for, but it's within epsilon of what I wanted." Alternatively, it may mean not close enough, but very little is required to get it there: "My program is within epsilon of working."

Alternatively: The latest tropical storm. At least this one seems unlikely to make landfall in Florida--or anywhere else.

Anyone else wondering if we will see a hurricane at Christmas?

Comments

[darth-spacey.livejournal.com]

Note that this definition is taken from mathematics, where delta stands for any given change, and epsilon for any change smaller than delta.

Note also that this defnition comes from The Jargon File, an informal collection of slang from the computer science and mathematics fields, rather than from an "official" dictionary.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah. Most things found in the Jargon File seem to spread to the general public eventually, or at least to the people most active online.