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Well, 以上 is used after a speech to indicate that the speech has been concluded
(i.e., 'Everything before this has been said.'). 以上 is used in numbers to mean
'or more', as in `八十%以上` (as in, 'Everything after this is included.'). If you
want to say, "80% or less", you say `八十%以下` or `八十％以外` for "anything but 80%".
Are 以上 and 以上 only homonyms and homophones, or are the words somehow
synonymous, by definition?
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2011-08-10T16:17:01.257
2578
2011-12-27T17:19:27.193
2011-12-27T17:19:27.193
544
question
numbers mathematics
以上 vs 以上 for numbers vs words: half full/half empty?
I thought about it a little. Maybe 以上です means, "Everything up until now has
been included," and, "８０％以上" means, "Everything up until now has been
discarded." So 以上 could just mean, 'Everything up until now has been {some
verb for 'excluded'}'. You can't really say '上から', either, I think.
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2011-08-10T16:19:14.140
2579
2011-08-10T16:19:14.140
544
2578
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Don't they both refer to a range measured from a point on a scale? For
numbers:

> 80％以上 80% and every percentage above
>
> 80％以下 80% and every percentage below

For text:

> 以上略 everything above this point has been cut out
>
> （文章はここから始まる） (the text starts here)
>
> 以下略 everything below this point has been cut out

So when you say 以上です, it's like a shortcut for saying 私が言いたいのは以上です。 ("The
things I want to say are above (before) this point.").
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2011-08-10T17:50:39.710
2580
2011-08-10T17:50:39.710
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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In both examples, `上` means 'above'. When you are talking about something that
already has a scale, that naturally applies. Towards the higher end will be
'above' and the lower end will be 'below'. In case of speach or writing, there
is no inherent scale, so a scale has to be added. And the normal habit is
that, in writing, the flow goes from the top of the page to the bottom, so if
you refer to something previously mentioned, that corresponds to 'above'. That
is carried over to speech.
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2011-08-10T17:53:01.430
2581
2011-08-10T17:53:01.430
2578
answer
I always think of it like this. `以上` means "more than", so with numbers it's
the obvious definition as you pointed out. When meaning "finished" or "that's
all", I like to think that it's an abbreviation of `これ以上はない` which would mean
"there's nothing more (than this)". I don't know if this is true or not, but
maybe it would help to think of it this way.
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2011-08-10T17:53:46.343
2582
2011-08-10T17:53:46.343
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answer