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From: BURT on 20 Jun 2010 15:34 Lets say you accelerate; you have a starting speed and and end speed. But you must go through every quantity of speed inbetween down to the infinitely small. This is similar to Zeno with infinities in distance passed through in finite time. There are transcendental quantities. Mitch Raemsch
From: purple on 20 Jun 2010 16:14 On 6/20/2010 2:34 PM, BURT wrote: > Lets say you accelerate; you have a starting speed and and end speed. > But you must go through every quantity of speed inbetween down to the > infinitely small. This is similar to Zeno with infinities in distance > passed through in finite time. There are transcendental quantities. The universe has no problems dealing with a continuum.
From: BURT on 20 Jun 2010 16:40 On Jun 20, 1:14 pm, purple <pur...(a)colorme.com> wrote: > On 6/20/2010 2:34 PM, BURT wrote: > > > Lets say you accelerate; you have a starting speed and and end speed. > > But you must go through every quantity of speed inbetween down to the > > infinitely small. This is similar to Zeno with infinities in distance > > passed through in finite time. There are transcendental quantities. > > The universe has no problems dealing with a continuum. The math is called the Continuum Hypothesis. Mitch Raemsch
From: Arturo Magidin on 20 Jun 2010 17:18 On Jun 20, 3:40 pm, BURT <macromi...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > On Jun 20, 1:14 pm, purple <pur...(a)colorme.com> wrote: > > > On 6/20/2010 2:34 PM, BURT wrote: > > > > Lets say you accelerate; you have a starting speed and and end speed. > > > But you must go through every quantity of speed inbetween down to the > > > infinitely small. This is similar to Zeno with infinities in distance > > > passed through in finite time. There are transcendental quantities. > > > The universe has no problems dealing with a continuum. > > The math is called the Continuum Hypothesis. Ehr, no, it really is not called that. (There *is* something called "the Continuum Hypothesis" in math, but it has nothing to do with anything that has been mentioned or alluded to in this thread) -- Arturo Magidin
From: porky_pig_jr on 20 Jun 2010 20:19
On Jun 20, 4:14 pm, purple <pur...(a)colorme.com> wrote: > On 6/20/2010 2:34 PM, BURT wrote: > > > Lets say you accelerate; you have a starting speed and and end speed. > > But you must go through every quantity of speed inbetween down to the > > infinitely small. This is similar to Zeno with infinities in distance > > passed through in finite time. There are transcendental quantities. > > The universe has no problems dealing with a continuum. I disagree. We *do not know* if universe is continuum. And the mathematical model of continuum (say, the real line) is exactly where Zone paradox arises. So this s not the accident the maths stays away from the notion of "movement" as well as "time" etc. Those are not math concepts, so it leaves it to physics. On the other hand, physics is free to apply to universe whatever mathematical model is suitable. Continuum is one is them, but continuum breaks down in some instances (so we may want to replace it with some discrete model). Zeno paradox is one example. But it's not maths' problem. Rather problem from choosing continuum model to describe some physical concepts. |