Hi James -- on Nov 10 2009 at 19:46, you wrote:

 AH>             A single colon is often used to indicate a
 AH> mathematical ratio... so I think it makes sense in this
 AH> context.  But why the double colon?  :-)

JB> 1/2::2/4
JB> S::N ratio

JB> A single colon doesn't say the same, does it? (Shoot, I can see this
JB> drifting toward English_Tutor, too! B-)

For the benefit of the more mathematically challenged among us, the double
colon is defined as meaning an artihmetic mean. The symbol is read as
"averaged with" and would used in print like this 3 :: 11 = 7 (in
other words, 3 + 11 = 14 divided by 2 = 7, the mean of 3 and 11)



Cheers... Dallas

--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+