Editing Metalloid (section)

===Alternative treatments===
Elements bordering the metal–nonmetal dividing line are not always classified as metalloids, noting a binary classification can facilitate the establishment of rules for determining bond types between metals and nonmetals.<ref name=roher>[[#Roher2001|Roher 2001, pp.&nbsp;4–6]]</ref> In such cases, the authors concerned focus on one or more attributes of interest to make their classification decisions, rather than being concerned about the marginal nature of the elements in question. Their considerations may or not be made explicit and may, at times, seem arbitrary.<ref name=Sharp1981/>{{refn|Jones (2010, pp. 169–71): "Though classification is an essential feature of all branches of science, there are always hard cases at the boundaries. The boundary of a class is rarely sharp…Scientists should not lose sleep over the hard cases. As long as a classification system is beneficial to economy of description, to structuring knowledge and to our understanding, and hard cases constitute a small minority, then keep it. If the system becomes less than useful, then scrap it and replace it with a system based on different shared characteristics."|group=n}} Metalloids may be grouped with metals;<ref>[[#Tyler1948|Tyler 1948, p.&nbsp;105]]; [[#Reilly2002|Reilly 2002, pp.&nbsp;5–6]]</ref> or regarded as nonmetals;<ref>[[#Hampel1976|Hampel & Hawley 1976, p.&nbsp;174]];</ref> or treated as a sub-category of nonmetals.<ref>[[#Goodrich1844|Goodrich 1844, p.&nbsp;264]]; [[#TheChemical1897|''The Chemical News'' 1897, p.&nbsp;189]]; [[#Hampel1976|Hampel & Hawley 1976, p.&nbsp;191]]; [[#Lewis1993|Lewis 1993, p.&nbsp;835]]; [[#Hérold2006|Hérold 2006, pp.&nbsp;149–50]]</ref>{{refn|1=Oderberg<ref>[[#Oderberg2007|Oderberg 2007, p.&nbsp;97]]</ref> argues on [[ontology|ontological]] grounds that anything not a metal is therefore a nonmetal, and that this includes semi-metals (i.e. metalloids).|group=n}} Other authors have suggested classifying some elements as metalloids "emphasizes that properties change gradually rather than abruptly as one moves across or down the periodic table".<ref name=brown>[[#Brown2006|Brown & Holme 2006, p.&nbsp;57]]</ref> Some periodic tables distinguish elements that are metalloids and display no formal dividing line between metals and nonmetals. Metalloids are instead shown as occurring in a diagonal band<ref>[[#Wiberg2001|Wiberg 2001, p.&nbsp;282]]; [[#Simple2005|Simple Memory Art c. 2005]]</ref> or diffuse region.<ref>[[#Chedd1969|Chedd 1969, pp.&nbsp;12–13]]</ref> The key consideration is to explain the context for the taxonomy in use.