The Definition of Points
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From: philneo2001 on 22 Apr 2007 15:26 On Mar 13, 5:57 pm, Clifford Nelson <cnels...(a)adelphia.net> wrote: > In article <et7g4b$cd...(a)ss408.t-com.hr>, > > > > > >  "©uæMuæPaProlij" <mrjohnpauldike2...(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > > > You missed the point in a discussion about points. The point is that > > > some things are primary, first, simple. The beginning geometry text > > > books say that the tetrahedron is advanced "solid" geometry. Bucky > > > Fuller discovered it when he was four years old because he could not > > > see. Geometry is taught in a way that psychiatrists would call an > > > example of, in layman's terms, a "thought disorder". Ditto for > > > geometry's "points". > > > > If RBF had spelled out the obvious conclusions between the lines, > > > sections, and chapters in Synergetics, I'll bet he wouldn't have been > > > able to get his books published at all. > > > And I am still missing the point. You can't learn all at once. If someone > > tells > > you that line is made of points and point is intersection of two lines you > > can > > accept it if you don't know anything better. > > > We know better that this and we don't have to accept this definition of point > > and line. > > Bucky Fuller quoted an author who said: science is an attempt to put the > facts of experience in order. Does the tetrahedron create 4 vertexes, 6 > edges, and 4 faces, or is it created by them? The axiomatic method of > classical Greek geometry begins with the point. Bucky rejected the > axiomatic method. He said you can't begin with less than the tetrahedron. > >  Cliff Nelson > > On Feb 19, 2007, at 6:57 AM, David Chako wrote: > > "I agree that the axiomatic method is insufficient in and of itself.  It > must be informed by experience. > > Having said that, it is possible to devise rather generic and abstract > mathematics which can be shown to work in harmony with most, if not all, > relevant experience.  As an example, the notion of vector space is one > such abstraction.  It is in harmony with Fuller, too. > > Now, axiomatic geometry is a whole other matter vis a vis harmony with > Fuller." > > - David > > --End Quote-- > > Examples of vector spaces use the Cartesian coordinate idea of 90 > degrees between the axes and Bucky Fuller wrote that that 90-degree-ness > has put humanity in a "lethal bind" of scientific illiteracy. > > http://mathworld.wolfram.com/VectorSpace.html > > Rational coordinate geometry with Synergetics coordinates was part of > his solution. BuckyNumbers are fields over the rational numbers and a > field is a stronger notion than a vector space. > >  Cliff Nelson > > Dry your tears, there's more fun for your ears, > "Forward Into The Past" 2 PM to 5 PM, Sundays, > California time,http://www.geocities.com/forwardintothepast/ > Don't be a square or a blockhead; see:http://bfi.org/node/574http://library.wolfram.com/infocenter/search/?search_results=1;search... > son_id=607- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - CRITICISMS FROM INTERNAL CONSISTENCY--BROWNIAN MOTION AND THE RELATIVITY OF SIMULTANEITY Still another criticism has to do with the mathematics Einstein adopted in order to express special relativity. Unaware of the polemics involved in the response to Cantorian set theory, he enthusiastically embraced Poincare's approach in SCIENCE AND HYPOTHESIS. He was unaware that Poincare's goal in this book was to develop an approach to mathematics which would "solve" or "avoid" the supposed paradoxes of set theory. The polemical position developed--now called natural mathematics (see P. Maddy, NATURALISM IN MATHEMATICS)--asserts that mathematical formulations are inherently anomalous; the evidence of this is that they generate paradoxes. Therefore, the idea that mathematics is an aspect of human perception, must be made a part of mathematical formulations even if it plays no internally consistent role in any natural mathematical formulation. According to Howard and Stachel in their recent book on Einstein's formative years (John Stachel is director of the Center for Einstein Studies at Boston University), Einstein made a âcareful readingâ of Poincare's formulation of this point of view. Poincare believed that âthe mind has a direct intuition of this power ['proof by recurrence' or 'mathematical induction'], and experiment can only be for [the mind] an opportunity of using it, and thereby of becoming conscious of it.â In geometry âwe are brought to [the concept of space] solely by studying the laws by whichâ¦[muscular] sensations succeed one another.â This idea of âsuccessionâ was vital if the âstandstillâ to which the âparadoxesâ had brought mathematics, was to be overcome. Natural mathematics gained widespread acceptance before Einstein came to it, and when he adopted its precepts, it caused him problems, even before the formulation of special relativity. As indicated in the Brown and Stachel book, it was employed in Einstin's 1905 paper on Brownian motion, with disturbing results: âEinstein begins with an assumption whose status is still problematic and troubled his contemporaries: that there exists âa time interval Ï, which shall be very small compared with observable time intervals but still so large that all motions performed by a particle during two consecutive time intervals Ï may be considered as mutually independent eventsâ¦.â As the author of this passage notes, â[t]his is essentially a very strong Markov postulate. Einstein makes no attempt to justify itâ¦.[W]here mathematics ends and physics begins is far from clearâ¦.â >From here, Einstein went on to apply natural mathematics to his formulation of the relativity of simultaneity (here the geometric formulation in RELATIVITY, where its use is particularly clear): Are two events (e.g. the two strokes of lightning A and B) which are simultaneous with reference to the railway embankment also simultaneous relatively to the train? We shall show directly that the answer must be in the negative. When we say that the lightning strokes A and B are simultaneous with respect to be embankment, we mean: the rays of light emitted at the places A and B, where the lightning occurs, meet each other at the mid-point M of the length AB of the embankment. But the events A and B also correspond to positions A and B on the train. Let M1 be the mid-point of the distance AB on the traveling train. Just when the flashes (as judged from the embankment) of lightning occur, this point M1 naturally coincides with the point M but it movesâ¦with the velocityâ¦of the train. The criticism is that the term ânaturally coincidesâ has no meaning and leads to logical problems. Einstein does not define it. If it is dropped, the assumption of two Cartesian coordinate systems leads to a contradictory conclusion of only one. The idea is that if two parallel coordinate systems coincide at one point, they coincide at all points and are one coordinate system, not two. So far, this criticism has not been overcome. The natural mathematics justification for the use of the term is that it âallowsâ one point to âsucceedâ another, and so permits the notion of the relativity of simultaneity to go forward. The criticism is that that does not resolve the logical problem of the use of "natural" coincidence in the argument.
From: Tony Orlow on 23 Apr 2007 11:54 Lester Zick wrote: > On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 12:00:37 -0400, Tony Orlow <tony(a)lightlink.com> > wrote: > >>>> What truth have you demonstrated without positing first? >>> And what truth have you demonstrated at all? >>> >>> ~v~~ >> Assuming two truth values as 0-place operators, I demonstrated that >> not(x) is the only functional 1-place operator, and then developed the >> 2-place operators mechanically from there. That was truth about truth. > > And how have you demonstrated the truth of the two "truth values" you > assumed? > > ~v~~ The "truth" of the two truth values is that I've declared them a priori as the two alternative evaluations for the truth of a statement. That's not a matter of deduction until you specify what statements you are assuming true or false, and on what basis you surmise them to be one or the other. Truth tables and logical statements involving variables are just that. If I say, 3x+3=15, is that true? No, we say that IF that's true, THEN we can deduce that x=4. If I say 3x+3=3(x+1) is that true? Yes, it's true for all x. If I say a=not b, is that true? Not if a and b are both true. If I say a or not a, that's true for all a. a and b are variables, which may each assume the value true or false. If you want to talk about the truth values of individual facts used in deduction, by all means, go for it. 01oo
From: Tony Orlow on 23 Apr 2007 11:57 stephen(a)nomail.com wrote: > In sci.math Tony Orlow <tony(a)lightlink.com> wrote: >> stephen(a)nomail.com wrote: >>> In sci.math Tony Orlow <tony(a)lightlink.com> wrote: >>>> stephen(a)nomail.com wrote: >>>>> In sci.math Tony Orlow <tony(a)lightlink.com> wrote: >>>>>> stephen(a)nomail.com wrote: >>>>>>> In sci.math Tony Orlow <tony(a)lightlink.com> wrote: >>>>>>>> Mike Kelly wrote: >>>>>>>>> The point that it DOESN'T MATTER whther you take cardinality to mean >>>>>>>>> "size". It's ludicrous to respond to that point with "but I don't take >>>>>>>>> cardinality to mean 'size'"! >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> -- >>>>>>>>> mike. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> You may laugh as you like, but numbers represent measure, and measure is >>>>>>>> built on "size" or "count". >>>>>>> What "measure", "size" or "count" does the imaginary number i represent? Is i a number? >>>>>>> The word "number" is used to describe things that do not represent any sort of "size". >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Stephen >>>>>> Start with zero: E 0 >>>>>> Define the naturals: Ex -> Ex+1 >>>>>> Define the integers: Ex -> Ex-1 >>>>>> Define imaginary integers: Ex -> sqrt(x) >>>>>> i=sqrt(0-(0+1)), so it's built from 0 and 1, using three operators. It's >>>>>> compounded from the naturals. >>>>> That does not answer the question of what "measure", "size" or "count" i represents. >>>>> And it is wrong on other levels as well. You just pulled "sqrt" out of the >>>>> air. You did not define it. Claiming that it is a primitive operator seems >>>>> a bit like cheating. And if I understand your odd notation, the sqrt(2) >>>>> is an imaginary integer according to you? And sqrt(4) is also an imaginary integer? >>>> No, but sqrt on the negatives produces imaginary numbers. Besides, sqrt >>>> can be defined, like + or -, geometrically, through construction. >>> You cannot define the sqrt(-1) geometrically. You are never going to draw a line >>> with a length of i. >>> >>>>> You also have to be careful about about claiming that i=sqrt(-1). It is much safer >>>>> to say that i*i=-1. If you do not see the difference, maybe you should explore the >>>>> implications of i=sqrt(-1). >>>>> >>>>> So what is wrong with >>>>> Start with zero: E 0 >>>>> Define the naturals: Ex -> Ex+1 >>>>> Define omega: Ax >>>>> I did that using only one operator. >>>>> >>>>> >>>> Ax? You mean, Ax x<w? That's fine, but it doesn't mean that w-1<w is >>>> incorrect. >>> No, I meant Ax. All of the natural numbers. I know you are incapable of >>> actually imagining "all", but others do not have that limitation. >>> >>> Of course, who knows what your notation is really supposed to mean. >>> What is (Ax)-1 supposed to be? How do you subtract one from all the naturals? >>> >>>>>> A nice picture of i is the length of the leg of a triangle with a >>>>>> hypotenuse of 1 and a leg of sqrt(2), if that makes any sense. It's kind >>>>>> of like the difference between a duck. :) >>>>> That does not make any sense. There is no point in giving a nonsensical >>>>> answer, unless you are aiming to emulate Lester. >>>>> >>>>> Stephen >>>>> >>>>> >>>> It's not nonsensical, and may even apply to uses of imaginary numbers in >>>> practice, but you can ignore it as I knew you would. That's okay. >>>> Tony >>> It is nonsense. Such a triangle does not exist. >>> >>> A >>> # >>> # >>> # >>> # >>> # >>> C############B >>> >>> Are you claiming this is a triangle? Are you claiming the distance from A to C >>> is i? How exactly is this supposed to be a picture of i? What is i measuring >>> in this picture? >>> >>> If this is not what you meant, please draw your picture of i. >>> >>> And you still have not answered what "size", "count" or "measure" i represents. >>> Is i a number, or not? >>> >>> Stephen > >> i is a number produced by extending completeness to the multiplicative >> field, after introducing completeness to the additive field to produce >> -1, like I said above. > > >> Consider that you have a right triangle so A^2+B^2=C^2. Now, if you swap >> the values between the hypotenuse and one of the legs, that formula will >> produce a second leg of the original length times i. So, in a way it is >> like picturing an impossible triangle. You have to "imagine" the other >> leg of length i. :) > > Swap the values between the hypotenuse and one of the legs? What > exactly does that mean? > >> A >> |\ >> | \ >> | \ 1 >> sqrt(2) | \ >> | \ >> | \ >> B i C > > > So you are claiming that the obviously longer line from A to C > is shorter than the line from A to B? So you can just > assign any old "length" to a line regardless of how long > it actually is? If the distance from B to C is imaginary, then the hypotenuse is shorter than the other leg. A strange concept, but perhaps the best visualization one can get of a square root of a negative. > > There is a way to make sense of this, but it is quite at odds > with traditional geometry, which seems to be the basis for all > your arguments. > > Stephen > It's somewhat at odds with traditional geometry. It's not a very well fleshed out idea. Just thought I'd mention the image.
From: Virgil on 23 Apr 2007 12:48 In article <462cd75a(a)news2.lightlink.com>, Tony Orlow <tony(a)lightlink.com> wrote: > stephen(a)nomail.com wrote: > > In sci.math Tony Orlow <tony(a)lightlink.com> wrote: > >> Consider that you have a right triangle so A^2+B^2=C^2. Now, if you swap > >> the values between the hypotenuse and one of the legs, that formula will > >> produce a second leg of the original length times i. So, in a way it is > >> like picturing an impossible triangle. You have to "imagine" the other > >> leg of length i. :) > > > > Swap the values between the hypotenuse and one of the legs? What > > exactly does that mean? > > > >> A > >> |\ > >> | \ > >> | \ 1 > >> sqrt(2) | \ > >> | \ > >> | \ > >> B i C > > > > > > So you are claiming that the obviously longer line from A to C > > is shorter than the line from A to B? So you can just > > assign any old "length" to a line regardless of how long > > it actually is? > > If the distance from B to C is imaginary, then the hypotenuse is shorter > than the other leg. A strange concept, but perhaps the best > visualization one can get of a square root of a negative. Distances are not imaginary. Points in the complex planes may have imaginary as well as real parts, but the distances between them are still real. And one can "visualize" the square roots (plural) of complex numbers best in polar representation If x + i*y = r*(cos(theta + 2*n*pi) + i*sin(theta + 2*n*pi)), n in N and r >= 0, then the square roots (plural) of x + i*y are sqrt(r)*(cos(theta/2 + n*pi) + i*sin(theta/2 + n*pi)) > > > > > There is a way to make sense of this, but it is quite at odds > > with traditional geometry, which seems to be the basis for all > > your arguments. > > > > Stephen > > > > It's somewhat at odds with traditional geometry. It's not a very well > fleshed out idea. Just thought I'd mention the image. TO would do better to flush it out that to try to flesh it out.
From: Tony Orlow on 23 Apr 2007 13:29
Virgil wrote: > In article <4628df20$1(a)news2.lightlink.com>, > Tony Orlow <tony(a)lightlink.com> wrote: > > >>> I do say so. Does this mean you're going to stop claiming that >>> relations in set theory aren't based solely on 'e'? >>> >>> -- >>> mike. >>> >> No, not when sequences are defined using a recursively defined successor >> function, which is a relation between two elements, as opposed 'e', a >> relation between an element and a set. The combination of the two is >> what produces an infinite set, no? > > So that x -> x u {x} does not depend on 'e' ? > > On can define successor entirely in terms of 'e'. > > Successor, in the x -> x u {x} sense, depends only on singleton sets, > subsets and unions, all of which are defined strictly in terms of 'e', > so what is left? Nothing. Only the implication from the existence of one element to the next, which defines the successor relation as one between two elements, and in this case, equivalent to 'e'. If we define successor in the x -> x+1 sense, then it's not really based on 'e', but it does define the naturals, in a quantitative way. Successor CAN be related to 'e', but really depends on recursive implication of existence. |