N-1st? or n-1th?

Joseph Turian turpitued:
[nq:1]If we were talking about some widget at location n-1, would this be the n-1st widget or the n-1th widget ... the text is read "n minus oneth widget". Also the former sounds better, the second strikes me as more accurate.[/nq]
It's a question of personal taste, but I'd always say "n minus oneth". I'd also use parentheses in writing it: (n-1)th.
Indeed, tho

[nq:1]If we were talking about some widget at location n-1, would this be the n-1st widget or the n-1th widget ... read "n minus oneth widget". Also the former sounds better, the second strikes me as more accurate. Your thoughts? Joseph[/nq]
At first I thought you were talking about coordinates. Apparently you're talking algebra? Could you not just say "widget n minus one", "the widget at n mi

[nq:1]If we were talking about some widget at location n-1, would this be the n-1st widget or the n-1th widget ... the text is read "n minus oneth widget". Also the former sounds better, the second strikes me as more accurate.[/nq]
"Penultimate"
Don
Kansas City

[nq:2]If we were talking about some widget at location n-1, ... former sounds better, the second strikes me as more accurate.[/nq]
[nq:1]"Penultimate"[/nq]
For the moment...

dg (domain=ccwebster)

[nq:2]If we were talking about some widget at location n-1, ... better, the second strikes me as moreaccurate. Your thoughts? Joseph[/nq]
[nq:1]At first I thought you were talking about coordinates. Apparentlyyou're talking algebra? Could you not just say "widget n minus ... n minus one widget?" I think "n minuswunth" sounds terrible, as does "n minus thirty-thirdth." "n minusforty-fifthth" is

[nq:1]At first I thought you were talking about coordinates. Apparentlyyou're talking algebra? Could you not just say "widget n minus ... n minus one widget?" I think "n minuswunth" sounds terrible, as does "n minus thirty-thirdth." "n minusforty-fifthth" is positively lisping.[/nq]
I agree, I read it again and simply cannot stand it. So I figured out how to simplify the notation.
(NB foo

Yesterday, Joseph Turian (Email Removed) gosled:
[nq:1]If we were talking about some widget at location n-1, would this be the n-1st widget or the n-1th widget ? The former implies that the text is read "n minus first widget". The latter implies that the text is read "n minus oneth widget".[/nq]
Although the second seems more correct to me, I can report that I've heard(1) the first more of

[nq:1]If we were talking about some widget at location n-1, would this bethe n-1st widget or the n-1th widget ? ... is read "n minus oneth widget". Also the former sounds better, the second strikes me as moreaccurate. Your thoughts? Joseph[/nq]
This is a tricky one. I think that I would normally use the latter but it is hard to say it without deliberate thought. I cannot say which I hear most

=?iso-8859-1?B?U2XhbiBPJ0xlYXRobPNiaGFpcg==?= filted:
[nq:1]A couple of points. Several posters seem to think that the latter is more correct but what if n is ... twenty-first and not twenty-oneth. Also thirty-first, hundred-and-first etc. So maybe the former form is more correct (if that means anything).[/nq]
I remember a program in a textbook once that used the "mod" function to apply an

[nq:1]=3D?iso-8859-1?B?U2XhbiBPJ0xlYXRobPNiaGFpcg=3D=3D?=3D filted:[/nq]
[nq:2]A couple of points. Several posters seem to think that ... the former form is more correct (if that means anything).[/nq]
[nq:1]I remember a program in a textbook once that used the "mod" functionto apply an ordinal suffix to a number...a bug had its output talking about the"11st" and "12nd" in a series..[/nq]