Talk:Glossary

The following definition has been removed:

RMS versus rms discussion archived
Steve 31Aug14: It looks odd that we list "rms" (lower case) and link to the Wikipedia "Root mean square" page that uses upper case "RMS" throughout, except for one mention of lower case "rms" as an alternative abbreviation.
 * Gale 31Aug14: We can't have rms in the Audacity interface and the file exported from Contrast but RMS elsewhere in the Manual. Martyn insisted here http://audacity.238276.n2.nabble.com/Good-audio-tool-td1607428.html#a1616364 and elsewhere on rms. If you want RMS you'll need to persuade Martyn to change.
 * Steve 31Aug14: Thanks for the link. Certainly not a release blocker, so can be addressed after 2.0.6. One "solution" would be to link to a reference that agrees with us that lower case is the norm. The other solution is for us to agree with Wikipedia (there is discussion about capitalization on the discussion page of the Wikipedia article that puts forward both sides of the argument).
 * Gale 31Aug14: I'm just about persuaded "rms" is preferable. It is not a unit like BPM or MPH. What I don't like about rms is that it may look like a typo to a novice. It may help to always include its full form in our text "rms (root-mean-square or average)". I notice the title of the Wikipedia page is "Root mean square" not "Root Mean Square". I may just edit that Wikipedia page to "rms" after 2.0.6 and see what happens. That page should at least use one or the other after saying both forms are in use.
 * Peter 01Sep14: Well my vote would be for capitalization, you yourself, Gale, finally persuaded me to enter this discussion with your comment "What I don't like about rms is that it may look like a typo to a novice". Plus if we are going to use Wikipedia as out touchstone here then one observes that there are may other articles in Wikipedia that use the capitalized version e.g. particularly this on on Audio Power applicable surely to our application. To me it just looks right capitalized - it says clearly "I am an acronym".  And there are plenty of maths sites on t'interweb that use the capitalized version - see this search  To me the acronym just doesn't look right in lower case.  Almost all other acronyms in this glossary are capitalized - the only exception I can see is "dB" (and that is the correct form for that particular one). Plus I really don't agree with the hyphens in our glossary entry below "Root-mean-square" so I would vote to remove them - though both hyphenated and unhyphenated forms occur throughout the literature.
 * Steve 01Sept14: "Root mean square" (not hyphenated) does not appear to be contentious (I can find no examples in other literature of it being hyphenated) so I've removed the hyphens.
 * Peter 01Sep14: "If you want RMS you'll need to persuade Martyn to change." - we can certainly try (I'm up for that - I'd even be prepared to drive up to Preston to debate it with him face-to-face and probably over a beer), but not before 2.0.6! ;-)


 * Peter 01Sep 01Sep14: Wikipedia's page on Acronyms states: "The most common capitalization scheme seen with acronyms is all-uppercase (all-caps), except for those few that have linguistically taken on an identity as regular words, with the acronymous etymology of the words fading into the background of common knowledge, such as has occurred with the words scuba, laser, and radar—these are known as anacronyms." I rest my case (pun intended!) ...
 * Peter 01Sep14: The other reason that I really don't like the lower-case version is that the "r" has a tendency to visually bleed into the "m" when displayed in the type-face we use in the Manual. I find "RMS" much more readily readable than "rms" there.
 * Peter 01Sep14: We appear to be pretty divided on this throughout the Manual ("I have little list .."): 9 pages have "RMS", 6 pages have "rms", one page has both forms (so we're not even consistent on the same page) - and Connie requests "rms", but in this instance I don't think she is right ... My counsel is to leave this alone while 2.0.6 is moving towards the doorway and pick it up once again after 2.0.6 is out, though I would capitalize on this glossary page right now.
 * Gale 01Sep14: rms is the current ruling as Connie's hand is forced by Martyn. He has more weight than Steve Harris. I fixed the one case of rms/RMS inconsistency on the same page. No more changes for rms/RMS until it's discussed after 2.0.6.
 * '''Peter 09Oct14: Consensus was achieved on the -quality list (after some tortuous discussions) that the capitalized RMS was the version to use for Audacity