On the wierdness of SET LIST.

diff --git a/doc/mad-manual.xml b/doc/mad-manual.xml
index ebaf36fb131659b01bb6f99dd18bf77212f02439..9b76c6be822038ea450e63a3f39f84ad23532683 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/mad-manual.xml
+++ b/doc/mad-manual.xml
@@ -92,6 +92,13 @@ whitespace-delimited tokens without relying on card position, and
 languages like MAD were called <quote>fixed-field</quote>.  When batch
 computing vanished in the 1990s, both terms passed out of use.</para>
 
+<para>By modern standards, the list manipulation statements (SET LIST,
+SAVE DATA, SAVE RETURN, RESTORE DATA, RESTORE RETURN) are downright
+peculiar.  We are accustomed to having a similar stack be managed
+automatically by procedure entry and exit and the binding of local
+variables, but that was an innovation of ALGOL 60 which was not
+present in ALGOL 58.</para>
+
 <para>Perhaps strangest to the modern eye is the exclusiveness with
 which MAD is focused on numerical computations in applied
 mathematics. String handling is rudimentary, and data structures other
@@ -1867,7 +1874,7 @@ equation f(x) = cos x - x = 0 could be written as a single statement,
 using the criterion "|f(x)| &lt; &epsi; and |x<subscript>k</subscript> -
 x<subscript>k</subscript>+1| =
 |f(x<subscript>k</subscript>)/f'(x<subscript>k</subscript>)| &lt; |
-&epsi; " for stopping the iteration:</para>
+&epsi;" for stopping the iteration:</para>
 
 <programlisting>
   NEW  THROUGH NEW, FOR X = X0, (COS.(X)-X)/(SIN.(X) + 1.),
@@ -4013,7 +4020,7 @@ statements always refer to the current list.</para>
 <sect2><title><emphasis role='note'>Example 4: Evaluate Tschebychev polynomials</emphasis></title>
 <para><emphasis>Problem:</emphasis> To evaluate Tschebychev polynomials.</para>
 
-<para><emphasis>Analysis:</emphasis> The Tschebychev polynomialT(N,X)
+<para><emphasis>Analysis:</emphasis> The Tschebychev polynomial T(N,X)
 is defined recursively as follows:</para>
 
 <!-- FIXME: MATH GOES HERE -->