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Subject: 
Re: Reasonable assignment for a third grader?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.geek
Date: 
Thu, 12 Apr 2001 18:32:11 GMT
Viewed: 
86 times
  
In article <slrn9dbo1a.4g3.mattdm@jadzia.bu.edu>,
Matthew Miller <mattdm@mattdm.org> wrote:
Not sure this is a good assumption. The letters aren't evenly distributed --
for example, E is way more common than Z. The median letter is probably
somewhere around K -- and you only need to get up to 'E' to be past the 1/4
mark.

It was indeed a little off. I'd worked out 7.4 letters per word based on an
even-ish distribution; working on the list from the linux /usr/dict/words
shows an average of 8.4 letters per word (after subtracting out the ^Js)
for words in nature. Or at least words in /usr/dict/words.

-JDF
--
J.D. Forinash                                     ,-.
foxtrot@cc.gatech.edu                            ( <
The more you learn, the better your luck gets.    `-'



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Reasonable assignment for a third grader?
 
(...) /usr/dict/words on many linux distributions is terrible. Here's an interesting test: grep herbivore /usr/dict/words grep omnivore /usr/dict/words grep carnivore /usr/dict/words (23 years ago, 12-Apr-01, to lugnet.off-topic.geek)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Reasonable assignment for a third grader?
 
(...) Not sure this is a good assumption. The letters aren't evenly distributed -- for example, E is way more common than Z. The median letter is probably somewhere around K -- and you only need to get up to 'E' to be past the 1/4 mark. (23 years ago, 12-Apr-01, to lugnet.off-topic.geek)

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