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To: capitan_refugio
Whenever I see "mathematical proofs" for or against anything, I always take them with a grain of salt.

It also helps if a mathematical proof actually looks like and is structured as a proper mathematical proof. As it happens, I don't think most people have any idea what a proper mathematical proof looks like or the constraints placed upon it. I frequently see many things written all over the place that claim to be "proof" of something, but they sure as hell aren't "mathematical proofs" in the sense any mathematician would use. While it is evident that a few people on these threads actually do know something about mathematical proofs (as an abstract topic in and of itself), it is painfully apparent that most of the participants do not.

4 posted on 03/05/2002 10:20:06 PM PST by tortoise
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To: tortoise
Ah, well, in that case, you'll want to be sure to check out the raging silliness on the first "mathematical proof" thread.

It's been a while since linear algebra and differential equations, but I'm not so rusty that I can't still spot a real, live formal proof ;)

5 posted on 03/05/2002 10:30:41 PM PST by general_re
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