Health and Functioning Assessment With Numeric and Symbolic Values

This chapter shows how assessment values often are viewed as part of a numeric scale, where in fact the fact values are understood more as symbolic in an ordinary scale. Computing with numeric and symbolic values is different, and challenging in particular if and when computations have to be intertwined. Computing with numeric values involves traditional applied and numerical mathematics, whereas computing with symbolic values involves logic and algebra. In this chapter the authors illuminate these aspects using examples from classification of functioning.