6.7. Comparatives

| Chapter 6: Descriptions |

| 6.7. Comparatives

The special definitions in the previous section have a further effect. When we define:

> Definition: A container is large if its carrying capacity is 10 or more.

we not only say how to test if something is large (see if its capacity is at least 10) and how to create something large (give it a capacity of exactly 10), we also create a new form of comparison. Thus,

> if the basket is larger than the thimble ...
> if the thimble is not larger than the basket ...

are both true. If we also define "huge" and "small", as in the previous section, we also get comparisons "huger than" and "smaller than". Note that "huger than" has exactly the same meaning as "larger than": we can use whichever wording seems more natural. (For bacilli, for instance, we would probably not say "huger than", even though the meaning would be unambiguous.)

We can also compare two things to see if they share the same value of a property. For instance, to go back to the heights example, once we define "tall" and "short", we get that exactly one of the following will be true:

> if Adam is taller than Eve ...
> if Adam is the same height as Eve ...
> if Adam is shorter than Eve ...

Though it will not always seem natural wording, we can use the comparison "the same P as" for any property P which has a value. Do we think "if the basket is the same carrying capacity as the thimble" is good English? Maybe, maybe not. But we are always at liberty to spell things out in full:

> if the carrying capacity of the basket is the carrying capacity of the thimble ...

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