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To: Alamo-Girl
Euclid was right in that the fifth postulate had to be a postulate. Euclid's only real failing in geometry was the failure to distinguish between the inside and outside of a triangle. Hilbert's axiomization fixes things up.
510 posted on 12/15/2002 9:06:44 PM PST by Doctor Stochastic
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To: Doctor Stochastic
Thank you so very much for the explanation!

It seems to me that math is much more "formal" in the development of a theory and in proving it. Granted, that may be because I'm so fond of math - but still, science does not seem anywhere near as formal (except of course when the science is coupled tightly with math.)

511 posted on 12/15/2002 9:19:52 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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