[PD-dev] proposed new "list" object

[Mathieu Bouchard]

On Fri, 22 Jul 2005, Chris McCormick wrote:

> In both mathematics and computing, a modulus is calculated from the
> remainder of the division. Nobody "could've picked" anything.

In mathematics, modulo is a way to reduce an algebraic structure into a
smaller such structure. For example, if you quotient a Ring by an Ideal of
that Ring, it gives you a modulo Ring. e.g. Z/16Z is the set of
equivalence classes in which its zero is really the Ideal 16Z, that is,
{0,16,-16,32,-32,etc}. The other elements are the Cosets of that Ideal. A
"canonical projection" function takes each element of Z making it
correspond to the element of the modulo Ring that contains it. If you try
inverting that function, you will have to choose a representant of each
set so that the inverse becomes 1-to-1. This is why I am talking about
picking.

  http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Congruence.html
  http://mathworld.wolfram.com/QuotientRing.html

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