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        riddles >> general problem-solving / chatting / whatever >> The Beauty of Mathematics
        
(Message started by: alien2 on Feb 13^th, 2012, 7:46am)

Title: The Beauty of Mathematics
Post by alien2 on Feb 13^th, 2012, 7:46am

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=h60r2HPsiuM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Title: Re: The Beauty of Mathematics
Post by towr on Feb 13^th, 2012, 10:31pm

God, what utter stupidity.
Also, I'm pretty sure the bible is in favor of stoning numerologists.

Title: Re: The Beauty of Mathematics
Post by alien2 on Feb 13^th, 2012, 11:29pm

It is a matter of faith. What? Don't run from Jesus. :P Those who are laughing now will be crying later. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095497/) I don't know. It looks kind of interesting to me.

Title: Re: The Beauty of Mathematics
Post by towr on Feb 14^th, 2012, 8:53am

Mathematics is not a matter of faith.
Furthermore, assigning numerical values to letters and then summing the values for the letters in a word of phrase, and then equating that to a percentage as if it holds any meaning, is neither a sign of an understanding of mathematics nor a sign of faith.

on 02/13/12 at 23:29:09, alien2 wrote:

Don't run from Jesus. :P

But he's one of the Undead! He might not be after my brain or my blood, but he's definitely after my soul. :P

Title: Re: The Beauty of Mathematics
Post by Grimbal on Feb 14^th, 2012, 10:19am

on 02/14/12 at 08:53:07, towr wrote:

Mathematics is not a matter of faith.

You mean ... the existence of http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/YaBBImages/symbols/bbn.gif and the validity of Peano's axioms is not a matter of faith?
Have you ever seen http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/YaBBImages/symbols/bbn.gif in its entirety? Have you ever heard of a proof for these axioms?
::)

Title: Re: The Beauty of Mathematics
Post by towr on Feb 14^th, 2012, 12:00pm

You don't need to believe http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/YaBBImages/symbols/bbn.gif exist or that Peano's axioms are valid (whatever that might mean) to reason about them. It's irrelevant to doing mathematics. 1+1=2 follows from Peano's axioms regardless of whether you believe in them. It's merely a matter of following the rules of the game. But if you don't observe those rules, you're not playing the same game.

Title: Re: The Beauty of Mathematics
Post by Grimbal on Feb 17^th, 2012, 5:16am

But if, say, you accept a bet because you computed that the odds are in your favor, you believe that mathematics are more than just a game with arbitrary rules you choose to follow or not. Don't you?

Title: Re: The Beauty of Mathematics
Post by towr on Feb 17^th, 2012, 8:27am

I believe there is a certain correspondence to some mathematical models and what they model, yes. But that's based on empirical evidence, not faith.

But, for example, I wouldn't believe that in reality you can cut a sphere in 5 pieces and then reassemble them into two spheres of the same size as the original.

Title: Re: The Beauty of Mathematics
Post by Grimbal on Feb 18^th, 2012, 12:11pm

I see what you mean. And actually I agree with you.