In Physics it is common to refer to a "many particle system". Should we not say "many particles system"?
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Answered in “woman” or “women” as a stand-in for the adjective “female”?. There's resistance, especially in the US, to the use of plural nouns attributively. Though in some cases (women doctors, sports centre, dogs home) the alternative seems less acceptable. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 10 '14 at 19:30
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Consider: A system of many particles – Gary's Student Oct 10 '14 at 19:39
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FWIW, I would use many-particle system, not many particle system. – Drew Oct 10 '14 at 20:09
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Particle here is acting as an adjective for the word system, so the plural doesn't need to be applied to it.
Just as in
- Two Car Garage
- Two Income Household
- Five Year Plan
- Hundred Year Flood
- Three Body Problem
Oldcat
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To minimize the possibility of confusion on the part of the reader, I would suggest using multi rather than many and using a hyphen and using the singlar:
"We are dealing with a multi-particle system."
Gary's Student
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