Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

I've been using AOO writer for a number of years know, and there was something I was curious about. This isn't a 'problem' mind you, just a point of curiosity. The spell check dictionary seems to be missing a lot of basic words. As such I'm often adding underlined words to said dictionary. Like 'mathematic' for instance. I was using the term 'mathematic principle' in a recent article I was writing, and when I right clicked to see the spelling correction options, thinking I'd just misspelled it, there was mathematics and mathematical as correction options, but not mathematic. As it turns out it didn't misspell the word, it just wasn't in the dictionary.

Title Edited. A descriptive title for posts helps others who are searching for solutions and increases the chances of a reply [robleyd, Moderator]. Was Simple Question

OpenOffice 3/Windows 8

The OO.o 3 is a very old version. Please update your signature and/or upgrade your office pack to the recent Apache OpenOffice or LibreOffice version.

The spell check dictionary seems to be missing a lot of basic words. As such I'm often adding underlined words to said dictionary. Like 'mathematic' for instance.

The words "mathematical" and "mathematics" are present in the English (UK) library of the AOO 4.1.5.

Mathematical principles - is not underlined
Principles of mathematics - is not underlined

In my dialect of English (standard Canadian) mathematic does not exist. The adjectival form of mathematics is mathematical. Mathematics seems to be one of those noun that can only exist in the plural.

Pants and trousers are similar examples.

According to https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/mathematic we get:

Noun
1: Figurative.

2: A member of a group of disciples of Pythagoras who studied his scientific proofs and demonstrations, rather than following his doctrines and precepts unquestioningly. Opposed to acousmatic.

Adjective
Mathematical.

A bit of further searching of the interwebz suggests that mathematic isn't a very common usage; the spell checker in PaleMoon web browser even highlights it as incorrect. As does my AOO Australian dictionary.

Unless you want to write your own dictionary, or you can persuade the person who writes the one you use to add the words you like, you are stuck with what you can download. As my mother always said when I objected to a decision she made: "You can like it or lump it".

You only have to add words once and they are forever there. Search the forum with dictionary to find posts explaining how to hack the added-words file to add words from a list.

Tools > Language > For selection ..., shows what dictionaries you have installed. Make sure they are up to date.

robleyd wrote:According to https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/mathematic we get:

Noun
1: Figurative.

2: A member of a group of disciples of Pythagoras who studied his scientific proofs and demonstrations, rather than following his doctrines and precepts unquestioningly. Opposed to acousmatic.

Adjective
Mathematical.

From that, it looks like it may have been used more commonly in the past but is becoming an archaic usage.

Clearly it conforms to the rules of word formation in English. Oh, so do a lot of the words in Jabberwocky, come to think of it.

I've never personally seen or heard the word "mathematic" used in US English. While writing this reply, the spellcheck in Firefox also underlines it as misspelled.

Edit: It seems that "mathematic" is a rarely used adjective in British English used instead of "mathematical".

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dicti ... mathematic

Well, as I mentioned, it's no big deal. All I do is add the odd word to the dictionary, and it solves the problem. That being said though, I didn't realize 'mathematic principle' was an uncommon usage.

Antaus wrote:I didn't realize 'mathematic principle' was an uncommon usage.

I trust it's uncommon because it is grammatically incorrect.

See the dictionary definition above. The word "mathematic" is a noun. In the phrase "mathematic principle" mathematic is used as an adjective. The correct adjective is "mathematicAL" giving "mathematical principle".

A Dutch dictionary offers "mathematic" as short for "mathematical", with the comment that it's rarely used. It's probably more likely that the spelling "mathematic" in a newly typed document is a typo, missing the s at the end, than that it's the correct short form for "mathematical". I'd much rather not add words to a dictionary that can be typos.