On 9 Jun 2010, at 22:48, Luke-Jr wrote:
Mathematically, they are semantically the same. And if they look the
same, one still cannot convey that contextual information of the
base.
Some numbers of different bases will be homographs, but in language,
one lets the context convey what is meant.
The use of prefixes or suffixes to convey the base only serves to
make
a context independent representation of the number. It simplifies a
traditional lexer-parser implementation of computer languages, as one
can let the lexer parse it.
"I have 20 cans." How do you convey the base from that context?
You cannot - I said the context must be supplied. Prefix, suffix or
otherwise.
Hans
