tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3046071861494986299.post4929159070178010515..comments2023-08-26T05:08:54.898-07:00Comments on Magic, maths and money: When being wrong is rightTim Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06952723922503939504noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3046071861494986299.post-84007875650424016752014-06-21T17:30:51.845-07:002014-06-21T17:30:51.845-07:00interesting reading. Anyone else tried to earn wit...interesting reading. Anyone else tried to <a href="http://www.learncbearn.com" rel="nofollow">earn with clickbank</a>?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08388046741897207955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3046071861494986299.post-47017785953281676842014-05-08T13:50:25.775-07:002014-05-08T13:50:25.775-07:00You have to think seriously if the universe actual...You have to think seriously if the universe actually exists http://www.digitalcosmology.com/Blog/2012/09/14/is-our-world-a-simulation-or-even-an-interactive-computer-game/Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06787200197343589571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3046071861494986299.post-68184270883117567722014-04-29T20:45:28.755-07:002014-04-29T20:45:28.755-07:00Mathematics is about manipulating symbols, but tho...Mathematics is about manipulating symbols, but those symbols can apply to any number of real world entities. Much as a title insurer guarantees the words of a title description, not the land it describes, mathematics guarantees truth about statements. The canonical example is Euclid's geometry without the 5th postulate which can describe plane, spherical or hyperbolic geometry. When the bank produces a risk model, it often finds it profitable to describe risks in a manner than allows the mathematics to produce a minimal result, and there is nothing short of strict government regulation and enforcement to prevent this. It's easy to prove that the sum of the interior angles of triangle is anything you want if you are allowed to embed your triangle in a space of your own choosing.Kaleberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05283840743310507878noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3046071861494986299.post-71296423497833067622014-04-29T13:12:02.473-07:002014-04-29T13:12:02.473-07:00Perhaps this is just the clueless raving of a mino...Perhaps this is just the clueless raving of a minor academic. That said, I have always felt very strongly that math is a bunch of rules with no more reality than the rules of bridge or basketball. When our mental gymnastics turn out to be useful in dealing with life, we can jump on this as a great tool. A tool that works, like a shovel or a saw, partly because of its fit with the user, the human mind. When the fit is rough but provides help, there is no reason to worry about ultimate reality.<br /><br />The example I give is a simple one (and perhaps wrongheaded). A cubic equation such as (4/3)pi r^3 = 1 will have three solutions. Only one will work as the radius of the sphere being investigated. The other two complex solutions are generally ignored until they find use in such things as periodic solutions to differential equations. The fit is rough but it works OK. Why the need to worry over some sort of ultimate reality? Multiverses? Why not ignore them until they are useful in some concrete sense?S Denslowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04568186440569189354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3046071861494986299.post-47038292234516459952014-04-29T10:23:27.530-07:002014-04-29T10:23:27.530-07:00You left me wanting more, which I suppose is a fin...You left me wanting more, which I suppose is a fine feature for a blog - or any other writing.<br /><br />The juxtaposition of Tegmark and Smith is brilliant.<br /><br />But you need a whole post on expectations,<br /><br />And more to the point, a more direct explanation of what Math IS, rather than what it is not. Though its a relief to see that it isn't God, seemingly a tool for describing him?Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15136541075745913165noreply@blogger.com