Sentences aren't associated with quantities, so that's an invalid analogy.
Post by twetch#1832
Sentences can be associated with quantities, sure. Words are just symbols with a different form.
"If you take three apples and add them to three apples, you'll have a total of six apples." That concept can be expressed, "3a + 3a = 6a".
What the chain says
- Block
- 662 180
- Time
- 2020-11-20T23:52:45Z
- Signer
- 1Jj8TsZnm1bosAJFjkbS8J2MckEGx6sGot
- App
- twetch
- Type
- post
- Content type
- text/plain
- Name in tx
- twetch#1832
Fields the transaction did not carry are omitted. Open the payload to see the bytes as stored.
Signed by
1Jj8TsZnm1bosAJFjkbS8J2MckEGx6sGot VerifiedReplies (20)
Mathematical language just uses a different set of symbols. Like sentences, some constructions are valid and some are invalid.
I can write down the symbols "15/0" and say the words "fifteen divided by zero." Doesn't mean that refers to any real quantity.
Ultimately people aren't going to agree on what is valid or not. We are talking about ideas, not about real things. I don't think there is such a thing as a "real" quantity.
In math we define things in terms of axioms. That defines what is valid or not. We can have opinions about whether we like a given set of axioms or not but I don't think we have some automatic shared idea on what is valid or not in mathematics.
Few mathematicians would have ever thought that until the 20th century. "Axioms" used to mean a self-evident or easily demonstrate truth. Now, because of the blunders modern math, "axioms" mean "any set of assumptions we take as a given and cannot prove."
A theory that doesn't talk about real things, or makes no attempt at connecting fictions to the world, is a bad theory.
Math can talk about real things, and it can say important things about the world.
"Quantity" is a real feature of the universe.
Is the distance along the diagonal of a square a quantity?
This thread is longer than one page shows. Open a reply to see what follows it.