Date: Tue, 7 Apr 98 17:23:41 EDT
From: Dan Hoey <Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil>
To: "Andy Spragg" <sparge@globalnet.co.uk>
Subject: Re: What is it with Andy Spragg?

Andy "What is it with" Spragg writes:
> So there you have it folks. I rest my case. Anyone wanting to side with
> Guido, I'd be interested to hear from you.

Sorry, I can't see her side at all.  "Completely barking mad" seems
the most likely assessment.  Still, "venal, vapid, and vain" is a
possibility--sort of a Marilyn vos Savant without the engaging prose
style.  You remarked that Guido's earlier answer didn't introduce
"too many" errors.  I wonder if you have a theory on what

> It is easily seen that the rational numbers, Q, also may be
> uniquely factored.

is supposed to mean?  Other than the trivial observation that all
nonzero elements of a field are units, in which case the statement
about R not being a UFD is nonsense.  Or were you just allowing her a
generous error budget?

Dan Hoey
Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil