To: Modest, Turtle and Craig D,
You are all fine mathematicians.
The "force" is with you my friends.
Now, if you could be turned to the "Blazys side",
then you would all be powerfull allies!
All kidding aside, your responses are numerous, and your issues are many,
so I will address them in a nice orderly fashion, that is, one at a time,
in the order that they were made.
Now, the very first issue, brought up by Modest, is that he is, in his own words,
"out of the loop" on the inconsistency, disagreement and confusion
that exists in both the math community and on the internet
as to what the words "proper factor" and "proper divisor" should mean.
Therefore, I invite everyone to "Google search" the words
"proper factor" and "proper divisor", and verify my observations that:
(1) "Wolfram Mathworld" defines "proper factor" differently from "WikiAnswers".
(2) The "Wolfram Mathworld" article on "proper divisor" points out the
fact that "proper divisor" is often defined as excluding both -1 and 1,
and unequivocally states that confusion and disagreement on the
meaning of the words "proper divisor" do indeed exist.
(3) In "Ask Dr. Math", Dr. Tom and Dr. Peterson disagree on what constitutes a
"proper factor".
(4) In "Ask Dr. Math", Dr Greenie also states that there is much confusion
among mathematicians on the meanings of the words "proper factor" and "proper divisor",
then contradicts himself when he says "you should find no disagreement among
mathematicians that the "proper divisors" of 8 are 1, 2 and 4."
So, my first question to you, my friends, is this.
Is there inconsistency, disagreement and confusion in both the "math community",
and on the internet, as to what the words "proper factor" and "proper divisor"
should mean?
This is a simple yes or no question.
Let's stay "on topic" and answer just this one question
before we move on to the other issues.
Don.
