[...] > I am aware of the usage of argument to mean the angle in polar > representation, but I don't like it. The word argument already has two > other meanings, one in common English, the other in math/CS. The latter > meaning is the inputs to a function, and that is how the word is used in > Python (though the former applies more to many c.l.p threads ;-) To me, > the polar angle has no connection with either meaning and so the usage is > 'like Greek' to me. Whereas angle is exactly what it is.
.angle() would be also alright, as it is easy to grasp > As for Greek: I first learned r(adius),theta (versus x,y or real,imag) as > the names for polar coordinates or the polar representation for complex > numbers and only ran into arg much later in some contexts. And I have seen > complex number implementations that use the equivalent of c.r() and > c.theta(). But I did not suggest that for one of the reasons I don't like > 'lambda': its fine if you already know it and arbitrary if you don't. (Is > theta used in Germany?) yes, of course the entire mathematic is full of them :) as for the complex numbers, in our lessons we used R(adius) and Phi for the angle for polar representation I guess it's more a question of teacher's preference than a national norm -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
