The hoard speaks -- or writes?

[Jim Parish]

Charles Doyle wrote:
> I notice that the OED omits "point set"--either as part of the phrase
> "point-set theory" (Moore's term) or as part of the phrase "point-set
> topology" or as an independent (and attributive) compound noun.
> Should it be there?

I'm not sure it rates an OED definition; the phrase seems pretty
transparent to me. (The subject deals with spaces considered as sets of
points, with no special assumptions about the points or their relation to
one another.)

I'm interested, though, in the fact that Moore used the term "point-set
theory", considering that it was he who apparently *coined* the phrase
"point-set topology". (I've never heard it referred to as "point-set
theory", but then I'm not a topologist.)

Jim Parish

> --Charlie
> _____________________________________________________________
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Wed, 9 May 2007 08:39:01 -0500
> >From: Jim Parish <jparish at SIUE.EDU>
> >Subject: Re: The hoard speaks -- or writes?
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster:       Jim Parish <jparish at SIUE.EDU>
> >Subject:      Re: The hoard speaks -- or writes?
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >Charles Doyle wrote:
> >> Back when I was studying mathematics at the University of Texas in the
> >> 1960s, my aged mentor, Robert Lee Moore (inventor of what's now
> >> called topology; he called it point-set theory) used to proclaim that
> >> he'd known only one good mathematician who was also a proficient
> >> calculator, and that individual was ashamed of the fact.
> >
> >Erm. Speaking as a professional mathematician and sometime teacher
> >of the history of mathematics: though an important figure in his own
> >right, R. L. Moore did not invent topology; credit for that, depending on
> >how you define the field, goes either to Henri Poincare or to Leonhard
> >Euler. (The full name of what Moore taught you, I presume, is "point-set
> >topology", which is the underpinning of all of the other varieties of the
> >subject. Moore didn't invent that either.)
> >
> >As for good mathematicians who were also proficient calculators, I'd put
> >forward John von Neumann as a notable example.
> >
> >We now return you to your regularly-scheduled discussion of
> >linguistics.
> >
> >Jim Parish
> >
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>
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