This might explain the difficulty some students have - finding another number to add to five, to get ten.
Thanks, -- Raul On Sat, Nov 16, 2013 at 3:55 PM, km <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
