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| alphabet |
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Most
books have alphabetical indexes because, while we may know exactly what
we are looking for, we often do not know where to find it. Though the alphabet
is an arbitrary sequence of symbols, indexes work well because we have been
taught alphabetical sequence from an early age. It is not universally useful,
as you will find if you ever try to use a phone directory in a language
that uses a different alphabet than your own. Many indexes are organized
alphabetically, but few products are (primarily dictionaries, encyclopedias,
and other reference works). This is because few data have any great meaning
based on the first letter of their labels. The alphabet actually is a continuum
(from A to Z) but it is a special one for the reasons stated above. |
numbers
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Much
like alphabets, numbers are merely an arbitrary continuum (usually Base-10,
since our species has ten fingers). But unlike alphabets, Base-10 numbers
are much more universal because they combine in different forms due to mathematical
relationships. It is common but not necessary for number organizations to
be continuums. For example, the Dewey Decimal System, used for organizing
books in many libraries, is not a continuum because it is a number system
that does not represent any magnitude or attribute; it simply assigns numbers
to categories and sub-categories. |
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