Footnotes

[geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA]

 Jennifer Jelinek wondered about footnote styles. Jennifer,
 any style guide that proposes that a strict order for
 footnote symbols exists should be taken with a whole shaker
 (not just a grain) of salt. It really doesn't matter what
 you use for footnotes so long as you're consistent from
 table to table (or page to page for text) and so long as no
 reader will confuse the footnotes with the table entries or
 text they apply to.

 FWIW, I've always used _letters_ in tables and _numbers_ in
 running text, and it works just fine. The advantage of both
 is that I occasionally need more footnotes than daggers
 etc. permit, but never more than the 26 options the
 alphabet permits. The only time it's ever a problem is when
 someone is reporting levels of statistical significance,
 and then all I need to do is use letters higher up in the
 alphabet (x, y and z typically) that don't clash with the
 footnotes.

 --Geoff Hart     @8^{)}     geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
 Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.

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