James Franklin has an interesting piece today at Aeon, asking what exactly mathematics is. He looks at Nominalism and Platonism, but discounts both in favor of Aristotelian Realism, which is something I'd not heard of before but seems equivalent to the idea that mathematics is empirical. What is mathematics about? We know what biology is about; … Continue reading What is mathematics about? – James Franklin – Aeon
Tag: Mathematics
One Plus One Equals Two. ALLEGEDLY. — The Nib — Medium
Somewhat related to some of our recent conversations about mathematics. Click through to see the full comic. via One Plus One Equals Two. ALLEGEDLY. — The Nib — Medium.
Who’s afraid of math? Study finds some genetic factors
As someone who's never been good at math, I found this particularly interesting. It's strange that I've always been in the top tier of programmers on any team I worked on, easily gotten As in any programming class I took, and that programmers as a general breed tend to be good at math, but I've … Continue reading Who’s afraid of math? Study finds some genetic factors
Are Parallel Universes Unscientific Nonsense?
If you’re a multiverse skeptic, you should know that there are many potential weaknesses in the case for parallel universes, and I hope you’ll find my cataloging of these weaknesses below useful. To identify these weaknesses in the pro-multiverse arguments, we first need to review what the arguments are. via Are Parallel Universes Unscientific Nonsense? … Continue reading Are Parallel Universes Unscientific Nonsense?
What’s the largest number we can really comprehend? It’s smaller than you think
This guy is awesome! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOsXjYKvCZ8 I think I've mentioned before that we don't really understand the very large and very small, we just equate it with metaphors of our "normal" scale existence. Nick Lucid gives one of the reasons why. Without abstract frameworks, we can't really do numbers. BTW, he has a Tumblr site.
Why a Larger Multiverse Shouldn’t Make You Feel Small | Max Tegmark
The Higgs Boson was predicted with the same tool as the planet Neptune and the radio wave: with mathematics. Why does our universe seem so mathematical, and what does it mean? In my new book, Our Mathematical Universe, which comes out today, I argue that it means that our universe isn't just described by math, … Continue reading Why a Larger Multiverse Shouldn’t Make You Feel Small | Max Tegmark
Do mathematics model real world patterns?
I've recently seen a couple of interesting posts pondering to what degree mathematics models actual real world objects. For an upcoming episode of the Rationally Speaking podcast, Massimo Pigliucci and Julia Galef interviewed Max Tegmark, who seems to believe that all of reality is ultimately mathematical. Note that Tegmark doesn't mean that it is precisely described … Continue reading Do mathematics model real world patterns?
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