"tend to ..."

22:18 Oct 24, 2012
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Science - Computers: Systems, Networks / informatics
English term or phrase: "tend to ..."
"Independent of ergodicity for (X; Y ) in the long run the Y -coordinate will tend to the limiting distribution  = ((k) : k = 0; 1; :::;M)." shouldn't it be "tend towards". Has anyone come across a phrase like this? (context Queueing theory/ Markov chains)
Lioba Multer
United States
Local time: 02:07


SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
5 -1"...have the tendency to..."
John Alphonse (X)


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


50 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -1
"...have the tendency to..."


Explanation:
Yes, "tend to" is fine...

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Note added at 12 hrs (2012-10-25 10:21:56 GMT)
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To clarify, this sentence would conclude with "...have the tendency to 'head toward zero'." The original answer was just to illustrate the acceptable usage of "to." And "towards would also be acceptable as the asker proposed.

John Alphonse (X)
United States
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Tony M: 'tend to' is fine — but it doesn't really mean 'have the tendency to'; it rather means that they 'head towards'
6 hrs
  -> I see what you mean but that was just to illustrate the usage of "to" as the sentence would conclude with "head toward" - "...have the tendency to head toward zero."

disagree  Oliver Lawrence: agree with Tony. "Have the tendency to" would need to be followed by a verb form.
7 hrs
  -> Yes the verb form is implied as stated above in response to Tony's observation. Agreed. Thank you
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