Talk:general term

RFD discussion: August–December 2017

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general term

Sum of parts? SemperBlotto (talk) 05:35, 23 August 2017 (UTC)

Delete. Equinox ◑ 18:20, 23 August 2017 (UTC)

The definition that we have looks SOP. M-W has a mathematical definition[1] that may be non-SOP. --Dan Polansky (talk) 19:53, 26 August 2017 (UTC)

I can't quite get my head round that definition. It isn't in Mathworld. SemperBlotto (talk) 05:25, 27 August 2017 (UTC)

The closest sense in [[general]], IMO, is "Giving or consisting of only the most important aspects of something, ignoring minor details; indefinite." That doesn't seem good enough to support the usage in the MWOnline sense given by DabP above. I will search for a definition that might at “general”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.. DCDuring (talk) 22:25, 27 August 2017 (UTC)

Delete at least the current definition. I have no comment on the other definition proposed above. PseudoSkull (talk) 22:48, 27 August 2017 (UTC)

The sense of [[general]] closest to that used in the mathematics usage, IMO, is "Giving or consisting of only the most important aspects of something, ignoring minor details; indefinite." That doesn't seem good enough to support the usage in the MWOnline sense given by DanP above. I will search for a definition that might at “general”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.. DCDuring (talk) 01:37, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

I don't see such a sense, though some are closer than the one I have shown above and perhaps the OED has one. I can see how sense development (Is that part of etymology?) goes from other definitions to use in this collocation, but the wording of the other definitions isn't close enough IMO. The mathematical sense that MWOnline has seems abundantly attestable, in sources from EB 1823, through Bourbaki, and fairly elementary teaching texts.

Delete challenged sense, add mathematical sense, and {{&lit}}. DCDuring (talk) 01:37, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

Deleted. bd2412 T 03:51, 4 December 2017 (UTC)