There is only one number 5 in pure mathematics. It is kept locked in a cabinet in a secret laboratory in Paris, along with the international kilogram. We may use names like 'five' or 'cinco' or 'Fuenf' to help us count or measure or balance our checkbook, but these uses of names are distinct from the number itself.
That probably didn't help. --Kip Sent from my iPad > On Nov 16, 2013, at 2:23 PM, Raul Miller <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Sat, Nov 16, 2013 at 3:00 PM, km <[email protected]> wrote: >> A fair reason for the outer enclosing box is that in math a list and a set >> are different. > > But in math a 5 and a 5 can be different, for example if one of them > is feet and the other is seconds, or in any of a variety of other > circumstances. (For example, one might be a constant and another might > be a non-unique valid example of an otherwise free variable.) > > On the other hand, we can use five apples to represent five seconds, > for example in a classroom discussion where we need a placeholder as a > part of the discussion. Or, perhaps a different kind of seconds if we > are talking about a second helping of dessert? > > These distinctions though, appear in our uses of language rather than > in the language itself. > > I hope this helps. > > -- > Raul > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
