In a recent message, I used Q and q to represent the same quantity. What had happened was that, in an earlier part of the calculation, the constant Q represented a particular value of the variable q, and so there was a distinction between their meanings. But, for what I was saying when in the posting, there was no need for the two symbols. The "Q" was just left over from the calculation, and I neglected to replace it.
After writing the posting I noticed that, but we were in a hurrry to leave, and this coimputer turns oiff its modem after a few milnutes, losing e-mail that is being written, and so I left it as it was. Sorry about the use of two sylmbols to represent one quantity. Mike Ossipoff ---- election-methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info