Thu, 1 Sep 2011, 22:38

A student writes:

> Dr Patt
> 
> In question 7, what exactly is meant by "without changing their values"?
> Does it mean that we're not allowed to find their decimal values through
> calculating the complement for the negative cases?   Any clarification would
> be much appreciated.
> 
> Thank you, 
> <<name withheld to protect the student who is making me clarify for all>>

Thank you for the question.  The answer is a little embarrassing.  The 
problem was taken from a previous assignment, and we did not look carefully
enough at the old wording.  Too much to do, it seems, which, of course, is
no excuse.  I frankly do not know how the wording got there originally, but 
as you clearly see, it makes no sense at all.  Ergo, the embarrassment.

So, please remove "without changing their values" from the statement of 
the problem.  We will remove it from our copy.

Good luck finishing the problem set on time.

Best regards,
Yale Patt