Is _Brave New World_ really science fiction?
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From: Brian M. Scott on 9 Apr 2010 18:04 On Thu, 8 Apr 2010 22:58:01 -0700 (PDT), Butch Malahide <fred.galvin(a)gmail.com> wrote in <news:22f27a79-46da-4fc7-8a89-1d1478681754(a)z3g2000yqz.googlegroups.com> in rec.arts.sf.written,sci.math: > On Apr 9, 12:29�am, "Brian M. Scott" <b.sc...(a)csuohio.edu> wrote: >> You find it, you get to name it. �A friend of mine in grad >> school constructed an interesting topological space and >> named it 'George'. > Once there was a mathematician with the initials FG who, > when he needed to define two functions, called them 'f' > and 'g'. A pathetic attempt at self-promotion, Occupational hazard, surely? > but I shouldn't speak ill of him since he's dead. Sensu Erd�s? Well, Bill's middle name *is* <George>, but I can't recall whether he ever said that he had or hadn't deliberately used it. [...] Brian
From: David Bernier on 10 Apr 2010 05:19 Brian M. Scott wrote: > On Thu, 08 Apr 2010 23:56:16 GMT, Christopher Adams > <mhacdebhandia(a)yahoo.invalid> wrote in > <news:A2uvn.18208$pv.1357(a)news-server.bigpond.net.au> in > rec.arts.sf.written,sci.math: > >> Brian M. Scott wrote: > >>> Christopher Adams wrote: > >>>> Butch Malahide wrote: > >>>>> 2. While generatingfunctionology > >>>> What are you, German? > >>> 'Generatingfunctionology' is the title of a first-rate book >>> on generating functions and combinatorics by Herbert S. >>> Wilf, who so far as I know is American; at any rate he was >>> an undergraduate at MIT and did his graduate work at >>> Columbia. > >> Given that I've received this response about a half-dozen >> times, in various forms, will someone at least admit to >> understanding why I made the joke? > > <http://kamelopedia.mormo.org/index.php/Hottentotten> > > Brian Re: Bangkok, full ceremonial name. << The full ceremonial name of the city given by King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke, and later edited by King Mongkut, is: Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit . >> Reference: < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok > David
From: Jonathan Schattke on 10 Apr 2010 18:33 On 4/7/2010 10:27 PM, Transfer Principle wrote: > Those posters who > believe in a smallest real number, such as AP and MR, may be > included with the "discrete mathematicians" as well. For any proposed smallest real, I can come up with a smaller number ;-)
From: Bill Snyder on 10 Apr 2010 18:50 On Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:33:25 -0500, Jonathan Schattke <wizwom(a)gmail.com> wrote: >On 4/7/2010 10:27 PM, Transfer Principle wrote: >> Those posters who >> believe in a smallest real number, such as AP and MR, may be >> included with the "discrete mathematicians" as well. > >For any proposed smallest real, I can come up with a smaller number ;-) Then I pick "The real number that's smaller than any you can ever come up with." Better yet, I pick the largest such number. This is why kooks so often prefer text to math. -- Bill Snyder [This space unintentionally left blank]
From: Jonathan Schattke on 10 Apr 2010 19:55
On 4/10/2010 5:50 PM, Bill Snyder wrote: > On Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:33:25 -0500, Jonathan Schattke > <wizwom(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >> On 4/7/2010 10:27 PM, Transfer Principle wrote: >>> Those posters who >>> believe in a smallest real number, such as AP and MR, may be >>> included with the "discrete mathematicians" as well. >> >> For any proposed smallest real, I can come up with a smaller number ;-) > > > Then I pick "The real number that's smaller than any you can ever > come up with." Better yet, I pick the largest such number. This > is why kooks so often prefer text to math. It actually points to the failure of "constructivist" mathematicians over "platonic" ones - the refusal to accept the trichotomy theorem and infinity leads to strange results. Such as saying there is a concrete minimum real. |