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Numerals in nacbracs

Posted By: Nack Ballard
Date: Tuesday, 29 November 2011, at 1:59 p.m.

In Response To: Nactation question 02 (Taper_Mike)

I concur with Michael's nacbrac of 64S-66B-53 [C Z48 c51 E55 U60] "^e and his excellent summary.

Generally, I'm happy using a numeral when there is only one play that puts a checker on the indicated point. Indeed, I prefer it to italics and often prefer it even to a lower-case letter.

In the situation at hand, having used 4 for the bar/22 9/4 play, I would probably use 5 for the bar/20 8/5 play as well. In other words, my favored nacbrac for 64S-66B-53 would be

[4 Z48 551 E55 U60] "^e

As the "4" stands alone, it is clearly conveyed as the best play. In context, it is also clear that the "5" play is followed by its error margin of 51 (i.e., .051).

The only time I think a numeral play looks out of place in a nacbrac is when it is followed by a single-digit margin, and in that case I insert a hyphen as a buffer. For example, suppose hypothetically that the "5" play were an error of only .007 (instead of .051). In that case, I'd write the nacbrac [4 5-7 Z48...].

Having chosen to use the numerals of 4 and 5, if bar/20 9/6 were competitive enough to list I would use "6" for it, even though (non-italic) capital C is available, just for consistency -- 4, 5 and 6 all representing plays within the same nacbrac. There's nothing wrong with using C, c and C; the numeral set is just a stylistic preference.

Taking numeral consistency a step further (and for sake of example we'll say the error margin for the "6" play is .099), one might write the nacbrac as [4 848 551 E55 U60 699] "^e or even [4 848 551 355 U60 699] "^e, though I would be less content using "3" for bar/20 6/3 (even though it holds up by 6pt convention) when there is a secondary play that puts a checker on the 3pt. For a clean sweep, it is even possible to use italic 1 (instead of U) for the play that puts a checker on the 21pt.

BTW, it seems to me the prudent course for whoever is initially programming Nactation would be not to include numerals in the prototype algorithm (rather just start with the areal letters), though I'm willing to be convinced otherwise.

Nack

Messages In This Thread

• Nactation question 02
  Mochy -- Thursday, 24 November 2011, at 10:50 a.m.
  • 64S-66B-53
    Nack Ballard -- Thursday, 24 November 2011, at 4:14 p.m.
  • Nactation question 02
    Taper_Mike -- Friday, 25 November 2011, at 11:27 a.m.
    • Nactation question 02
      Mochy -- Friday, 25 November 2011, at 1:09 p.m.
      • Nactation question 02
        Taper_Mike -- Saturday, 26 November 2011, at 2:14 a.m.
        • Numerals in nacbracs
          Nack Ballard -- Tuesday, 29 November 2011, at 1:59 p.m.