5.7 Exercises

1. The following are examples of symbol sets. Decide for which symbol system type each would be most suitable and give reasons.

   • {a, b, c, d, e, ., z}

   • {small, medium, large, extra large}

   • {red, yellow, green}

   • {Asian, European, American}

   • {1,2,3,4, ,99, 100}

   • {1*10, 1*10 ², 1*10 ³, 1*10 ⁴, 1*10 ⁵, 1*10 ⁶, 1*10 ⁷}

   Note that there may be more than one answer in each case.

2. How does the statement, made on the second page of this chapter, A is 0.3 metres long , accord with the claim that measurement is comparison ?

3. 1. Assign scale types to the attributes of the peaches in example 2.1.

   2. The attributes of an apple are given as weight, colour, crispness, maturity, cost. Assign a scale type to measure each of these characteristics and suggest how they could be measured.

4. You have to choose an institution in which to complete your education.

   What characteristics of institutions would be important to you and how could you measure them?

   If you could not decide between rival institutions, suggest how the measures could be combined into a utility measure and use your utility measure to rank the institutions according to desirability .

5. Comment on the standard chosen by the bakery in example 5.12 and suggest what checks they should put in place to ensure fair trading.

6. Establish a connection between:

   1. black box representation and object centred measure .

   2. black box representation and the statement in section 5.2, headed representation of classification