Chapter 14: Units
14.15. Making the verb "to weigh"

We have already created new verbs: for instance, in the previous chapter we set up a verb "to love", which was such that we could say "A loves B" for people A and B. Suppose we want a verb "to weigh", in the sense of "the lead pig weighs 45kg". This is not like "to love", because it relates something tangible (the lead pig) to something intangible (45kg). So its creation looks a little different:

The verb to weigh (it weighs, they weigh, it is weighing) implies the weight property.

Our previous verb definitions ended "implies the ... relation", rather than "implies the ... property", but otherwise the idea is the same. The effect is that we can say things like:

A thing usually weighs 1kg. The lead pig weighs 45kg.
something weighing 20kg
if three things weigh 5kg, ...


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** Example  Dimensions
This example draws together the previous snippets into a working implementation of the weighbridge.

RB
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*** Example  Lead Cuts Paper
To give every container a breaking strain, that is, a maximum weight of contents which it can bear - so that to put the lead pig into a paper bag invites disaster.

RB


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