Posted on 04/11/2006 3:08:56 PM PDT by LibWhacker
The places where mathematics are most effective are those situations with the fewest assumptions -- particle physics, for example.
The more complex the system, the more it defies mathematical understanding and the "fuzzier" the subject.
Does this mean we don't need Deep Thought, or does it mean we do?
I'm looking forward to the sequel:
e
4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42... 4 8 15 16 23 42...
A physicist, an engineer and a mathematician were all in a hotel
sleeping when a fire broke out in their respective rooms.
The physicist woke up, saw the fire in his room, ran over to his desk, pulled
out his CRC, and began working out all sorts of fluid dynamics
equations. After a couple minutes, he threw down his pencil, got
a graduated cylinder out of his suitcase, and measured out a
precise amount of water. He threw it on the fire, extinguishing
it, with not a drop wasted, and went back to sleep.
The engineer woke up, saw the fire, ran into the bathroom, turned
on the faucets full-blast, flooding out the entire hotel room,
which put out the fire, and went back to sleep.
The mathematician woke up, saw the fire, ran over to his desk,
began working through theorems, lemmas, hypotheses , you -name-it,
and after a few minutes, put down his pencil triumphantly and
exclaimed, "I have proven that I can put the fire out!"
He then went back to sleep.
Depends on ambition. There is some status for those at the PhD level. Status is important to some. Top slot at the Institute pays well. It is also an ego boost for those who know they are smarter than 99.99% of the population even if they don't hold a top position in industry or gov't.
An intuitive speaks.
Be careful. FR is filled to the bursting with know-it-all positivists who will poke you with their pitchforks and burn you with their torches if you don't bow in abject humility before their peculiar icons.
"What is so deep about this number 19?" Louis Farrakhan
ping
The third prime is 5.
Actually, after the engineer has finished, the mathematician wakes up, sees the fire going out and a smoldering ember burning the corner of his notes.
He immediately empties his whiskey bottle, pours out the contents all over the room, lights a match and goes back to bed...
...secure in the knowledge that he has reduced it to a previously-solved problem.
Have you tried the margin?
It has just been in the past 20 years or so that a survey of professors' IQs at Cambridge University yielded a mean of 118.
Clever, yes. But hardly geniuses.
Academics in general are too impressed with themselves.
Anyone without a PhD is not considered a sentient being.
I, as a mathematician, am always operating on margin.
Okay, when did 42 become a prime number?
So you are saying that mathematics wouldn't exist if we humans didn't?
Wouldn't the reality that we humans attempt to explain with math and science still exist?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.