exercise 8.3: every other

[jgmbenoit]

In exercise 8.3, we read

A step size of 2 means every other character;(...).

As non native English reader, I get confuse: is every other an idiom that means every two ? I would favour plain English.

[AllenDowney]

Yes "every other character" means take one, skip one, take one, skip one, etc. But I understand that this idiom might not be familiar to non-native speakers.

An alternative is to say "every second character". Would that be easier to interpret? Or should I make it explicit, like "take one, skip one"?

Thanks! Allen

On Fri, Jul 22, 2022, at 5:56 PM, Jérôme Benoit wrote:

In exercise 8.3, we read

A step size of 2 means every other character;(...).

As non native English reader, I get confuse: is every other an idiom that means every two ? I would favour plain English.

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[jgmbenoit]

"every second character" would be consistent with the spirit of the sentence, the (...) is in fact ``3 means every third, etc.'' (BTW, not sure of the semi-colon). Best wishes, Jerome

[OogieM]

Every second character is much harder for me to figure out. More explicit take one skipone seems more universal.

[jgmbenoit]

I agree with @OogieM to say that `` take one, skip one'' is better for a wider audience. A long this line, I suggest:

A step size of 2 means take one character, skip one character; 3 means take one character, skip 2 characters; etc.