:N: /N/ quant. 1. A large and indeterminate number of objects:
"There were N bugs in that crock!" Also used in its
original sense of a variable name: "This crock has N bugs,
as N goes to infinity." (The true number of bugs is always
at least N + 1; see {Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic
Entomology}.) 2. A variable whose value is inherited from the
current context. For example, when a meal is being ordered at a
restaurant, N may be understood to mean however many people
there are at the table. From the remark "We'd like to order
N wonton soups and a family dinner for N - 1" you
can deduce that one person at the table wants to eat only soup,
even though you don't know how many people there are (see
{great-wall}). 3. `Nth': adj. The ordinal counterpart
of N, senses 1 and 2. "Now for the Nth and last
time..." In the specific context "Nth-year grad
student", N is generally assumed to be at least 4, and is
usually 5 or more (see {tenured graduate student}). See also
{{random numbers}}, {two-to-the-N}.
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
"There were N bugs in that crock!" Also used in its
original sense of a variable name: "This crock has N bugs,
as N goes to infinity." (The true number of bugs is always
at least N + 1; see {Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic
Entomology}.) 2. A variable whose value is inherited from the
current context. For example, when a meal is being ordered at a
restaurant, N may be understood to mean however many people
there are at the table. From the remark "We'd like to order
N wonton soups and a family dinner for N - 1" you
can deduce that one person at the table wants to eat only soup,
even though you don't know how many people there are (see
{great-wall}). 3. `Nth': adj. The ordinal counterpart
of N, senses 1 and 2. "Now for the Nth and last
time..." In the specific context "Nth-year grad
student", N is generally assumed to be at least 4, and is
usually 5 or more (see {tenured graduate student}). See also
{{random numbers}}, {two-to-the-N}.
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
Related:
- N /N/ quant.
1. A large and indeterminate number of
objects:
"There were N bugs in that crock!" Also used in ... - great-wall: [from SF fandom] vi.,n. A mass expedition to an
oriental restaurant,
esp. one where food is served family-style and shared... - great-wall vi.,n.
[from SF fandom] A mass expedition to an
oriental restaurant,
esp. one where food is served family-style and shared... - HAKMEM /hak'mem/ n.
MIT AI Memo 239 (February 1972).
A legendary collection of neat mathematical and... - time T: /ti:m T/ n. 1. An unspecified but usually well-understood
time,
often used in conjunction with a later time T+1. ... - infinity: n. 1. The largest value that can be represented in a
particular type of variable (register,
memory location, data type, whatever). 2. `minus... - glitch: /glich/ [from German `glitschen' to slip, via Yiddish
`glitshen',
to slide or skid] 1. n. A sudden interruption in ... - frog: alt. `phrog' 1. interj. Term of disgust (we seem to have
a lot of them).
2. Used as a name for just about anything. See ... - spam vt.,vi.,n.
[from "Monty Python's Flying
Circus"] 1.
To crash a program by overrunning a fixed-size buffer...
