I don’t know who articulated it, but that person’s thought was a heap of sand is anything more than three grains, because anything less than that can’t be arranged in a pile (two grains can make a stack, and three can be arranged on a plane, but not in a roughly pyramidal/conical shape that is typical of a heap). Alternatively (and using a different sense of the word), the computer scientist would say that the empty heap has a size of zero, but can still be interpreted (and sorted) as a heap.
I don’t know who articulated it, but that person’s thought was a heap of sand is anything more than three grains, because anything less than that can’t be arranged in a pile (two grains can make a stack, and three can be arranged on a plane, but not in a roughly pyramidal/conical shape that is typical of a heap). Alternatively (and using a different sense of the word), the computer scientist would say that the empty heap has a size of zero, but can still be interpreted (and sorted) as a heap.
that’s funnie