From: "Jerry" 
To: "'Frank Q'" ,
        "ATM List" 
Reply-To: "Jerry" 




-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Q [mailto:frank{at}katestone.com.au]
Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 5:22 PM To: Jerry; Bill T.; ATM List
Subject: Re: ATM Spelling...

> the diameter at 90 degrees to the parabola is made spherical. If
> smoothly transitioned from one to the other diameter,the surface would
> also contain the entire family of prolate ellipses. This mirror could be
> described by any of the adjectives "parabolic or parabolidal",
> "spherical or spheroid" and "elliptical or
ellipseoid".  What a quagmire
> of  adjectives!  I hope no one ever designs a scope using one of those.
>  It would cause more confusion than the term "Herschelian" telescope.

ellipseoid ... err... don't you mean ellipsoid

and we left out  "spheroidal", "ellipsoidal", in fact
there's a whole family:

sphere, spheric (??), spheroid, spherical, spheroidal ellipse, elliptic,
ellipsoid, elliptical, ellipsoidal parabola, parabolic paraboloid,
parabolical, diabolical, hyperbola and its offspring
torus and its offspring

and it goes on and on and on !!!



        Uhhhh.... I didn't use the spiel cheker.

        And now you've gone into that quagmire!  Might be best to just say I
have a "special surface" on my mirror. Otherwise I would choose
"diabolical"...... But parabolic is still easier to type.

--- BBBS/NT v4.00 MP