From: Brian Chandler on

Lester Zick wrote:
> On 19 Mar 2007 11:51:47 -0700, "Randy Poe" <poespam-trap(a)yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
> >On Mar 19, 2:44 pm, Lester Zick <dontbot...(a)nowhere.net> wrote:
> >> On 19 Mar 2007 08:59:24 -0700, "Randy Poe" <poespam-t...(a)yahoo.com>
> >> wrote:

<this section intentionally not present>

> I'm a physicist, Randy, not a psychologist.

Gosh, honto? Only the other day you were a mathematician, you said.

Brian Chandler
http://imaginatorium.org

From: Brian Chandler on

Randy Poe wrote:
> On Mar 20, 3:30 pm, Lester Zick <dontbot...(a)nowhere.net> wrote:
> > On 20 Mar 2007 08:58:26 -0700, "Randy Poe" <poespam-t...(a)yahoo.com>
> > wrote:
> > >On Mar 19, 7:30 pm, Lester Zick <dontbot...(a)nowhere.net> wrote:
> > >> On 19 Mar 2007 11:51:47 -0700, "Randy Poe" <poespam-t...(a)yahoo.com>
> > >> wrote:
> > >> >On Mar 19, 2:44 pm, Lester Zick <dontbot...(a)nowhere.net> wrote:
> > >> >> On 19 Mar 2007 08:59:24 -0700, "Randy Poe" <poespam-t...(a)yahoo.com>
> > >> >> wrote:
> >
> > >> >> >> > That the set of naturals is infinite.

<snip>

> I find it instructive that of all the many, many
> examples of phrases you have thrown out on this
> newsgroup, the ones that make people say "what the
> hell is that supposed to mean?" you have never to
> my recollection been able to explain a single
> one.

On the contrary, I think he has explained practically all of them, to
his own satisfaction, mostly by simple repetition. He seems to be
proceeding apace through his "course", and perhaps when he reaches the
end of writing it, he will go back and take the course himself - no
doubt passing with flying colours. Well, occasionally it provides bits
of entertainment.

(Yes, of course I know your meaning of "explain" is different, but you
are talking to Lester, for goodness sake...)

Brian Chandler
http://imaginatorium.org

From: Tony Orlow on
Bob Kolker wrote:
> Tony Orlow wrote:
>
>>
>> You know that's not what I mean.
>
> I do? Then what do you mean.
>
>
> How do you measure the accuracy of the
>> premises you use for your arguments? You check the results. That's the
>> way it works in science, and that's the way t works in geometry. If some
>
> But not in math. The only thing that matters is that the conclusions
> follow from the premises and the premises do not imply contradictions.
> Matters of empirical true, as such, have no place in mathematics.
>
> Math is about what follows from assumptions, not true statements about
> the world.
>
> Bob Kolker

If the algebraic portions of your mathematics that describe the
geometric entities therein do not produce the same conclusions as would
be derived geometrically, then the algebraic representation of the
geometry fails. Hilbert didn't just pick statements out of a hat.
Rather, he didn't do so entirely, though they could have been
generalized better. In any case, they represent facts that are
justifiable, not within the language of axiomatic description, but
within the spatial context of that which is described.

Tony Orlow
From: Virgil on
In article <1174449993.369845.273040(a)o5g2000hsb.googlegroups.com>,
"Brian Chandler" <imaginatorium(a)despammed.com> wrote:

> Lester Zick wrote:
> > On 19 Mar 2007 11:51:47 -0700, "Randy Poe" <poespam-trap(a)yahoo.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >On Mar 19, 2:44 pm, Lester Zick <dontbot...(a)nowhere.net> wrote:
> > >> On 19 Mar 2007 08:59:24 -0700, "Randy Poe" <poespam-t...(a)yahoo.com>
> > >> wrote:
>
> <this section intentionally not present>
>
> > I'm a physicist, Randy, not a psychologist.
>
> Gosh, honto? Only the other day you were a mathematician, you said.
>
> Brian Chandler
> http://imaginatorium.org

But that was a thursday!
From: Virgil on
In article <4600b8f8$1(a)news2.lightlink.com>,
Tony Orlow <tony(a)lightlink.com> wrote:

> Bob Kolker wrote:
> > Tony Orlow wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> You know that's not what I mean.
> >
> > I do? Then what do you mean.
> >
> >
> > How do you measure the accuracy of the
> >> premises you use for your arguments? You check the results. That's the
> >> way it works in science, and that's the way t works in geometry. If some
> >
> > But not in math. The only thing that matters is that the conclusions
> > follow from the premises and the premises do not imply contradictions.
> > Matters of empirical true, as such, have no place in mathematics.
> >
> > Math is about what follows from assumptions, not true statements about
> > the world.
> >
> > Bob Kolker
>
> If the algebraic portions of your mathematics that describe the
> geometric entities therein do not produce the same conclusions as would
> be derived geometrically, then the algebraic representation of the
> geometry fails.

They do produce the same conclusions, and manage to produce geometric
theorems that geometry alone did not produce until shown the way by
algebra.

Actually, if all the axioms of one system become theorems in another,
then everything in the embedded system can be done in the other without
any further reference to the embedded system at all.