Re: Rationals vs Reals in Comp

2013-04-27 Thread Stathis Papaioannou
On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 3:14 AM, Craig Weinberg wrote: > A quote from someone on Facebook. Any comments? > >> "Computers can only do computations for rational numbers, not for real >> numbers. Every number in a computer is represented as rational. No computer >> can represent pi or any other real

Re: Rationals vs Reals in Comp

2013-04-27 Thread Bruno Marchal
On 27 Apr 2013, at 11:40, Stathis Papaioannou wrote: On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 3:14 AM, Craig Weinberg wrote: A quote from someone on Facebook. Any comments? "Computers can only do computations for rational numbers, not for real numbers. Every number in a computer is represented as rational

Re: Rationals vs Reals in Comp

2013-04-27 Thread John Mikes
Dear Stathis and Bruno, Stathis' reply is commendable, with one excessive word: " r e a l ". I asked Bruno several times to 'identify' the term 'number' in common-sense language. So far I did not understand such (my mistake?) I still hold *'numbers'* as the product of human thinking which cann

Re: Rationals vs Reals in Comp

2013-04-27 Thread Craig Weinberg
On Saturday, April 27, 2013 5:40:18 AM UTC-4, stathisp wrote: > > On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 3:14 AM, Craig Weinberg > > > wrote: > > A quote from someone on Facebook. Any comments? > > > >> "Computers can only do computations for rational numbers, not for real > >> numbers. Every number in a

Re: Rationals vs Reals in Comp

2013-04-27 Thread Stathis Papaioannou
On 28/04/2013, at 3:31 AM, Craig Weinberg wrote: > > > On Saturday, April 27, 2013 5:40:18 AM UTC-4, stathisp wrote: >> >> On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 3:14 AM, Craig Weinberg wrote: >> > A quote from someone on Facebook. Any comments? >> > >> >> "Computers can only do computations for ration

Re: Leibniz's God as a software program

2013-04-27 Thread Spudboy100
I am seeing in Dr. Clough's writing, much of the same thing the Einstein described in his responses to interviewers or letter correspondents, and also much of the thing, not only Leibniz thought of, but also Spinoza. If I remember correctly, Leibniz never met Benedict (Baruch) Spinoza, but ha

Re: Rationals vs Reals in Comp

2013-04-27 Thread Craig Weinberg
On Saturday, April 27, 2013 2:20:20 PM UTC-4, stathisp wrote: > > > > On 28/04/2013, at 3:31 AM, Craig Weinberg > > wrote: > > > > On Saturday, April 27, 2013 5:40:18 AM UTC-4, stathisp wrote: >> >> On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 3:14 AM, Craig Weinberg >> wrote: >> > A quote from someone on Faceboo