Bertie on Maths
Locked
 
|
Discussions of the "meaning" of math are always interesting --- and revealing. We smart-ass grad students thought that most entertaining. After all, the canonical example is: "Let x equal y". Most ordinary folks found the remark very annoying, which, I suspect, was mainly its purpose. He is also alleged to have said, "People who discuss sex or mathematics usually don't practise it very well." ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
|
|
[hidden email] wrote circa 03/23/2010 10:08 AM:
> He is also alleged to have said, "People who discuss sex or mathematics > usually don't practise it very well." Heh, this sounds like a confession on his part.... given that he wrote entire books discussing math. He must have totally sucked at it. ;-) -- glen e. p. ropella, 971-222-9095, http://agent-based-modeling.com ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
|
|
In reply to this post by plissaman
Peter,
Always great to receive the benefits of your observations - and wisdom! I much enjoyed being reminded about Russell. I believe his heyday was likely in the first decade of the 20th cent - when mathematics was finally shaking its ensnarement by, and tight association with, the natural (especially the hard) sciences. With the advent of Lobachevskian and Riemannian Geometry (50?) years earlier, it was becoming clear that mathematics should be decoupled from science. And with the programs of Peano, Hilbert and others, it was becoming well-established that mathematics was to be developed from completely arbitrary postulate systems, and be damned with natural observation as far as abstract mathematics was concerned. We've been celebrating this declaration of independence of mathematics from physics ever since! (Well. OK, you can still use mathematics with physics if you HAVE to :-( ) Grant [hidden email] wrote:
-- Grant Holland Principal Grant Holland & Associates 404.427.4759 ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
|
|
In reply to this post by plissaman
When I saw that subject line I was so hoping it was Bertie Wooster.
On Mar 23, 2010, at 1:08 PM, [hidden email] wrote:
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
|
|
Gussie Finknottle. Newts.
On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 11:55 AM, Pamela McCorduck <[hidden email]> wrote:
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
|
|
In reply to this post by Pamela McCorduck
Rem acu tetigisti.
> When I saw that subject line I was so hoping it was Bertie Wooster. ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org |
| Free forum by Nabble | Edit this page |