<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV>oh, brother...yes, '4%' does have meaning, but I'm pretty sure you know the sense in which I meant "no meaning."</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Let's say you're going for a job and you're told that your pay will be 4%. First thing you'd ask, if you had any sense, would be "4% OF what??" Person hiring you says, "No..just 4%. But rest assured, because 4% is always 4/100, or 0.04. So...when do you start?"</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>So, there's your meaning. You know you're being hired for 4%. But until you know what it's 4% OF, the meaning isn't specific enough for you to sign on.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>It could be 4% of the company's gross, 4% of the CEO's income, 4% of what your secretary makes, or 4% of the cost of urinal cakes in the mens' room.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>A percent can be thought of as a formula or as an operator. Yes, it has a definition, but until or unless you know what it's operating on, you don't have specific value.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>nk</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR><DIV><DIV>On Nov 27, 2005, at 10:27 PM, Steve Self wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Gill Sans" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Gill Sans">However, 4% does have meaning, it is a small amount of something. It clearly does not have integer meaning, but meaning nonetheless.</FONT></P> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></BODY></HTML>