formal/informal

Hello.
"to complete n tasks using a k-segment pipeline requires k + (n-1) clock cycles."
(computer systems architecture, Mano, 3ed 1993)


is it formal or informal?What if we substitute "completing" for "to complete"?

Thank you for your help in advance

It's formal, but most people would say it's technical, which doesn't have the same social and cultural formality we usually associate with the word formal. Changing from the infinitive to the gerund changes the meaning from an assignment (prospective) to an experimental result (retrospective).

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Originally Posted by konungursvia

It's formal, but most people would say it's technical, which doesn't have the same social and cultural formality we usually associate with the word formal. Changing from the infinitive to the gerund changes the meaning from an assignment (prospective) to an experimental result (retrospective).

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Sorry, I didn't get the difference in meaning

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Originally Posted by hooshdar3

Sorry, I didn't get the difference in meaning

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Just in case the peopple have not seen this, I should mention that I have not get my answer yet.

You did get your answer. Have you looked up prospective and retrospective?

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Originally Posted by konungursvia

You did get your answer. Have you looked up prospective and retrospective?

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Do you mean that it is always the case that changing the to inf. subj. to the gerund makes the prespective sense retrospective?Also, I haven't figured out yet what do you mean by assignment and experiment?