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"Satisfies" is a common math term. For instance given

  x + 3 = 4
the value of x which satisfies the equation is 1. To satisfy is to be a value which makes true some truth valued formula (such as an invocation of a predicate like blue(x) or equation like the above, or inequality or such).

Satisfiability comes up in logic; a "SAT" problem is, in a nutshell, the problem of finding the combination of true/false values of a bunch of Boolean variables, which make some formula true.

When the Haskeller says that "Num a" is something that is satisfied by a, it means that it's a kind of predicate which says a is a Num. That predicate is true of an a which is a Num.



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