Thankyou! I really think I get it now. That was almost worth creating a new monk just so as I could ++ you twice!

Just for the record - it wasn't just idle (nor idol:) curiosity, nor some form of masocism that prompted the question.

From long experience going (way) back to school, I was never good at "rote learning". I found early on that if I could build a mental picture of the way things work, even if it was technically flawed, so long as it fit my observations, knowledge would stick. I won't embarrass myself by quoting my homebrew derivation of -b +/- b^2 -4ac/2a, but the formula stuck.

References bookmarked for future reading when my eyes are upto it. its nearly 5 am here.

Update:Just to show I did do my homework assignment...I especially like the "seven good uses of local()".