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rjacobsMGMAT wrote:
Well it looks to me like [x] denotes the greatest integer less than or equal to x. :)

("denotes" = "is")

It's a function that the GMAT made up.


It's not a function made up by GMAT :o)
Carl Friedrich Gauss introduced the square bracket notation [x] for the floor function, which indeed, associates to every x the greatest integer less than or equal to x. Much later, in computer science, Iverson introduced different notations for the floor \(\lfloor{x}\rfloor\) (and ceiling \(\lceil{x}\rceil\)) function. In mathematics both notations are used.

Originally posted by EvaJager on 11 Aug 2012, 09:27.
Last edited by EvaJager on 11 Aug 2012, 14:10, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: questions including [x] [#permalink]
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EvaJager wrote:

It's not a function made up by GMAT :o)
Carl Friedrich Gauss introduced the square bracket notation [x] for the floor function, which indeed, associates to every x the greatest integer less than or equal to x. Much later, in computer science, Iverson introduced different notations for the floor \(\lfloor{x}\rfloor\) (and ceiling \(\lceil{x}\rceil\)) function. In mathematics both notations are used.


HA that's great, I totally didn't know that! I usually teach my students that this is the equivalent of the RoundDown function on Excel, but I think I like this history lesson better :)
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Re: questions including [x] [#permalink]
rjacobsMGMAT wrote:
EvaJager wrote:

It's not a function made up by GMAT :o)
Carl Friedrich Gauss introduced the square bracket notation [x] for the floor function, which indeed, associates to every x the greatest integer less than or equal to x. Much later, in computer science, Iverson introduced different notations for the floor \(\lfloor{x}\rfloor\) (and ceiling \(\lceil{x}\rceil\)) function. In mathematics both notations are used.


HA that's great, I totally didn't know that! I usually teach my students that this is the equivalent of the RoundDown function on Excel, but I think I like this history lesson better :)


I know this is not the place, but I see I can't send you a PM (personal message) through the site. Thank you for the Kudos, but I think I didn't do much to earn it in this case:o)

BTW, I thoroughly enjoyed your post "Winning ugly on the GMAT", Kudos for it!
I cannot deny Agassi's achievements, but my all times favorites is still Sampras.
Although he never won Roland Garros, he had a superb game at the net, which today's player lack so much.
Definitely, Agassi made the maximum of what he had at hand.
Great message and amazing idea to connect tennis with GMAT!

For those who didn't read the article yet:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

Originally posted by EvaJager on 11 Aug 2012, 23:10.
Last edited by EvaJager on 12 Aug 2012, 08:19, edited 1 time in total.
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Pillah wrote:
does anyone know what [x] means?

eg: If [x] denotes the greatest integer less than or equal to x, is [x] = 0

I'm having trouble understanding what If [x] denotes the greatest integer less than or equal to x means


When working on Floor or Ceiling functions, a useful technique is to think of the number line.

Say x lies somewhere on the number line. The floor function, often denoted by [x], is the integer closest to x on the left hand side i.e. it is the largest number which is smaller than x (or equal to x if x is an integer). It is easy to comprehend in case of positive numbers. e.g.
[3.4] = 3,
[5.789] = 5 etc
You should be a little more careful while dealing with negative numbers
[-2.45] = -3
This is why the number line perspective helps.
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