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Conference thebay::joyoflex

Title:The Joy of Lex
Notice:A Notes File even your grammar could love
Moderator:THEBAY::SYSTEM
Created:Fri Feb 28 1986
Last Modified:Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1192
Total number of notes:42769

43.0. "lexical help,please" by EIFFEL::CRIMMIN () Fri Feb 01 1985 08:05

My current project involves some work with set theory, and I need
help with examples. C'mon, you remember set theory: The intersection
of sets; the union; difference; subset; and others.

Here's what I'm looking for: Two alphanumeric arguments whose intersection
results in a third word. That is, the letters that the arguments hold
in common form their own word. The difficult part is this: the shared
letters cannot be rearranged; they must appear in the same order as 
the left argument.

If you want to suggest a particularly good idea for the UNION of two
alphanumeric strings, then write 'em in. You could also try DIFFERENCES,
that is, the elements in the first arguments which are not contained in
the second argument.
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43.1DVINCI::MPALMERFri Feb 01 1985 11:167
you mean like blather and lather
or trash and rash?  there must be millions of em.
can shared letters appear twice in one word and not in the other?

the difference should just be the reverse, as in X(calm,becalm) = be.
you may need some more rules about what set members are to work with
closure and isomorphism etc.!!
43.2EIFFEL::CRIMMINFri Feb 01 1985 14:4218
Here's some examples so you see how it works:

	UNIQUE elements in 'asparagus'  =   asprgu

	UNION of 'salt' and 'tier'      =   saltier   (no duplicate letters)

	INTERSECTION of 'pant' and 'cant'= ant  

	DIFFERENCES betwn 'girl' and 'whirl' = g (result show elements of A
		not found in B)

The results cannot contain any double letters. Here is a UNIQUE that almost 
works (phonetically it does work).

	Dr.Grant's Chewing Gum = Dr.Gant's Chewinum

Of course, the meaning changes, and the possessive becomes a contraction, but
that is allowed. Notice that a blank space counts as a character (ie the result can only contain one of them).
43.3SUPER::KENAHFri Feb 01 1985 16:5618
I suggest you refer to this month's GAMES Magazine. One word puzzle involves 
the union of six-letter words. 

They present the first three letters of the first qord, and the last three 
letters of the third. You have to choose another six-letter word whose first 3 
letters complete the first, and second 3 letters start the second.

For example, they give:

FAL ______________ TAN

The answer would be: CONSUL     FAL+CON  and SUL+TAN

I think this is what you want, and I hope this helps.

		To quote John Ciardi, "Good words to you."

					andrew