Markdown for LLMs

Expressions and quantities: boundaries

The source Markdown for this article. Copy it into your assistant or download it as a text file.

# Expressions and quantities: boundaries

What the construct does NOT do: limits, reserved values, neighbouring constructs and the selection rule.

## Does not do

- **Not mix kinds.** No implicit conversions: neither `Integer` into
  `Decimal`, nor currencies with each other, nor `Date` into `Instant`. An
  offset-free instant is not a moment: comparing an offset spelling with an
  offset-free one is rejected — coercion needs a timezone/boundary policy
  and is not done silently.
- **Not round silently.** An inexact `Money`/`Quantity` quotient and `Money *
  Rational` on a non-10-smooth total are a loud `INEXACT_DIVISION`, not quiet
  rounding. Rounding is only an explicit `round` /
  `div_round` policy.
- **Not multiply dimensioned by dimensioned.** `Money * Money`, `Quantity *
  Quantity` are undefined (`TYPE_ERROR`): dimension algebra
  arrives with the unit package. The bridge between magnitude and money is
  rounding-policy territory.
- **Not divide without a claimant.** The dividend tables are closed: a pair outside
  an operation's table has no operation — `TYPE_ERROR`, operand order changes
  nothing. `Quantity * Rational` is unnamed: there is no witness in the corpus,
  extension awaits a claimant act. `Quantity /
  Quantity` does not divide under a `div_round` policy: it has no claimant act
  (only `Money / Money` divides under a policy).
- **Not hold 64-bit overflows silently.** `add`, `sub`,
  `mul(Integer, Integer)`, `abs(Integer)` and `pow` must lie in the signed
  64-bit range: overflow is an evaluation
  error, with no wrapping or saturation. Decimals (`Decimal`, `Money`,
  `Quantity`) compute exactly; leaving the carrier range is a loud
  `UNSUPPORTED_IN_SLICE`, not silent rounding.
- **Not order enumerations.** No order is defined over enum members:
  `<`/`<=`/`>`/`>=` and `min`/`max` over members are `TYPE_ERROR` ("enum kind
  not ordered"), not declaration or name order. Members of different
  enumerations are incomparable — also `TYPE_ERROR`, not false.
- **Not execute `average` over `Integer`.** Still rejected
  at execution; over `Money` it works.
- **Not tell `empty: error` from no policy apart in CLIR.** The canon
  does not tell them apart: an `aggregate` node lowers without the
  `options.empty` key, byte for byte like a record without a policy.

## Reserved and closed

- The dividend, multiplicand, remainder, power and absolute tables are closed:
  they define the operation, not illustrate it.
- `mod` — only `Integer mod Integer`, Euclidean remainder (`0 <= r < |b|`).
  `pow` — only `Integer pow Integer`, exponent `0..4096`,
  `0 pow 0 = 1`. An exponent `< 0` is `TYPE_ERROR`.
- There is no `Rational` literal: only `Integer / Integer` gives a fraction,
  canonized as an irreducible fraction with a positive denominator.
  `Rational` and `Decimal` mix in no operation.
- The scalar rule holds for multiplication only: `Integer`/`Decimal`
  scale a magnitude, but `Integer + Rational` is `TYPE_ERROR`.
- A money literal has a mandatory space (`1000 KZT`); a currency is a
  code, not a name.
- Source-metadata `jurisdiction`/`authority`/`issuer` and judgment `authority`
  are not terms but institute StableIds: they need no declarations,
  checked by equality.

## Neighbours and the selection rule

- Expression vs judgment: a threshold in the body (`n >= 10`) is an expression
  over data; a disputable norm reading ("manifestly excessive") is the
  judgment channel, not a comparison. See the selection table in `README.md`.
- `round` vs `div_round`: rounding a finished value — `round(v, p, mode)`;
  division with rounding — `div_round(a, b, p, mode)` as one operation over
  the exact quotient, not a composition of two.
- `collect` vs `collect all`: counting entities — `collect` (`Set`,
  distinct values); summarizing charges — `collect all` (`List`, positions).
  The mistake is not diagnosed statically — only by a test on equal values.
- `const` vs case fact: program immutables — `const`;
  mutable legal facts are not modelled with `const` — that is `assert` with
  `origin`. Case constants (`case.constants`) are ephemeral query
  values, not in the program hash.
- `function` vs `rule`: pure value computation — `function`;
  concluding an assertion from premises — `rule`. Function before rule: every
  parameter read executes with a witness.
- `if`-term vs `unless`: value choice by status — `IfTerm`
  (branches on `TRUE_ONLY`/`FALSE_ONLY`, `BOTH` — `CONFLICTED_CONDITION`,
  `NEITHER` — no branch picked); conclusion defeat — `unless`/defeater.
  A conditional term in the head and in the body is a support reader:
  a cycle through it is forbidden (`LDC-E4102`), a strict rule
  over a defeasible producer is declined (`LDC-E4103`).