[texhax] the role of the tilde "~" in the set definition

[Lars Madsen]

P. R. Stanley wrote:
> Hi folks
> Here's another one taken from the Spivey text on the z (pronounced zed) 
> language:
>     \[ \{~p: PERSON | age(p) \geq 16~\} \]
>     A simple set definition. Any idea what the "~" is supposed to do?
>     
> many thanks
> Paul
> 
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it usually represents a non-breakable space

in math is doesn't really have any meaning, I'm guessing here that the 
author is misusing it to provide some extra space instead of using a say 
\ followed by a space.

/daleif