smoosh: What is the meaning of smoosh? ("tool" in arithmetic)
- Thread starter shahar
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HallsofIvy
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I think it is just a slang variant of "smash": to crush things together. What application that has to mathematics, I have no idea.
Dr.Peterson
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Did you try looking up the word? Google tells me it means "(North American informal) squash, crush, or flatten".
The use of the word here makes it even clearer that the intent is to give informal descriptions, not formal terms!
The idea is that this is the opposite of "stretch". When you multiply by a number larger than 1, you stretch the number line; when you multiply by a (positive) number less than one, you compress or squeeze it.
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