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Subject:re: System (the word) From:"Christensen, Kent" <lkchris -at- sandia -dot- gov> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 22 Aug 2001 10:25:56 -0600
re: Annika Hohenthal: My colleague insists that you can only use the word
'system' when you refer to really large and complicated systems, not when
you talk about perhaps somewhat smaller systems belonging to a larger ...
My first reaction to this is to suggest showing the colleague a dictionary,
but it's probably not so simple. Additionally, the suspense was nearly
palpable as I looked for Annika and other responders to use the word ...
"subsystem!"
Of course a piece of technical writing most often covers just a thing and
not the whole world, and when there's something systematic about this thing
we then must create our current and local definition of the system in
question (and perhaps its subsystems).
My best advice is, if you can, define your system of the moment by using an
illustration, a diagram, etc. They're worth 1000s of words, I've heard.
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