longer than vs. as long as
A group of us recently read this thought-provoking, if brief, editorial (carefully removed from its position in the secure archive that is István Mikó's wallet and unfolded for our cogitation) that addresses statements us taxonomists frequently make about relative lengths, widths, heights, etc. The subsequent discussion was lively and flowed through numerous subtopics, including language, semantics, English grammar, mathematics, and taxon description composition. Here it is, verbatim:
Dorsal view of an Oreiscelio megadontus Talamas, 2009 head (but squished anteroposteriorly a little bit to illustrate the point). Is the head 2 times wider than long? Or 2 times as wide as long? In this case L=0.54 mm and W=1.08 mm. Maybe I'll stick to measurements in all future descriptions...
EditorialUnfortunately we don't have a citation for it, but we think it was from an entomological journal. Do you know where/when this commentary was published? I largely agree with the sentiments expressed by F. Werner here, but I have to say that the term antennomere drives me nuts. It would've been more informative to use flagellomere (or scape, pedicel, etc.) rather than that mixture of segments and subsegments that is antennomere.
If an antennomere is three times longer than wide and it is 1 mm wide, how long is it? I have asked this question or others like it of a variety of people and only one person, my 93-year old father-in-law, has come up with the correct answer. It is 4 mm long. Disagree? Then try using percentages. If it were 50% longer than wide, it would be 1.5 mm long; 100%, 2.0 mm; 200% 3.0 mm; 300% 4.0 mm. What is the difference between 300% (= 300 per 100) longer and three times longer? No difference.
Our mass media use three times longer than, shorter than, etc. loosely. But we are trying to communicate with each other, not make or stretch a point. If readers interpret "3 times longer than" in different ways, the only way to avoid ambiguity is to avoid using the phrase. It's better to use "three times as long as," or "L/W=3."
- F. Werner
Dorsal view of an Oreiscelio megadontus Talamas, 2009 head (but squished anteroposteriorly a little bit to illustrate the point). Is the head 2 times wider than long? Or 2 times as wide as long? In this case L=0.54 mm and W=1.08 mm. Maybe I'll stick to measurements in all future descriptions...
I guess 1 mm
is a bit more explicit
than "wider than long"
is a bit more explicit
than "wider than long"
I think the quote might be from Floyd Werner of the University of Arizona. Coincidentally, his daughter is one of my favorite aunties - I'll ask her if she thinks this might be his, and if so, if she knows the when and where of publishing.
Posted by Ariel Demarest on March 05, 2009 at 10:02 PM EST #
Great! Do you know in what year his father-in-law (your great great uncle?) would have been 93? If we know the author, and I think you're correct, and the year we can probably get a reference for this editorial. Thanks for the comment!
Posted by ardeans on March 18, 2009 at 02:47 PM EDT #
Alright, here is the citation! It was published in the Coleopterist Bulletin, June 1992, Vol. 46, no. 2, p. 141. Enjoy!
Posted by Ariel Demarest on April 06, 2009 at 11:53 PM EDT #
mathematically speaking, the phrase "longer than" implies addition while the phrase "as long as" implies multiplication. this would mean that if one thing is two times bigger than something else, then it would be three times as big.
the flip side is when something is referred to as being "twice as small" when it really should be "half as big".
Posted by ron on September 03, 2009 at 11:27 PM EDT #