On 14 January 2014 13:25, Stephen Paul King <[email protected]>wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 7:12 PM, LizR <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On 14 January 2014 13:04, Stephen Paul King >> <[email protected]>wrote: >> >>> Dear LizR, >>> What would happen is mathematics did not amazingly match up with the >>> patterns of phenomena of the physical world? Think about it. We expect a >>> model of a system to match that system as best possible, so what is magical >>> about symbolic representational systems that obey rules? >>> >> >> The "magical thing" is that it isn't a model of the real world, but >> nevertheless, models of the real world can be built using it. >> > > Umm, I was not complaining that math isn't a "model of the real world" - > the one we can measure and communicate about, it is that we seem surprised > that mathematical models created to explain some phenomena can almost > always be extended beyond what is obvious in the data to make predictions > of what we have not even looked at before. Dirac's prediction of positrons > from the behavior of wave functions that obey SR come to mind. > Why are we surprised that Nature is not a chaotic mess and has patterns > and so forth that can be represented with symbols and rules to manipulate > them. We are surprised when we see strange patterns emerge in Game of Life > cellular automata. Why? I don't get the "surprise". Maybe I am just weird... > > Or more likely you're sane, and the rest of us are weird. No, that's a good point. (I found arithmetical realism weird to start with, but it's growing on me.) > >> >>> I somehow miss the amazement. Maybe because I have to actually study >>> and understand the most arcane math ever imagined... >>> >> >> I can see that would help. >> >>> >>> Try this! >>> http://www.futuretg.com/FTHumanEvolutionCourse/FTFreeLearningKits/01-MA-Mathematics,%20Economics%20and%20Preparation%20for%20University/001-MA01-HI00-High%20School%20Mathematics,%20Preparation%20and%20Recreational%20Science/13%20-%20Recreational%20Science/D.E.Littlewood%20-%20The%20Skeleton%20Key%20of%20Mathematics%5BHarper,%20136p%5D.pdf >>> >>> I don't have time to read books very often. If you can give some >> examples that illustrate your point, that would be helpful. >> > > NO NO! I didn't mean: "Here read this!" I meant, "jeez, look at the title > of this book, WTF is that!" I have to study this and understand it. > Homework. > >> >> Oh, I see. (Phew!) I can sympathise... -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
