Timeline for Can the laws of physics and the constants of nature exist in a fundamental sense without mathematical realism?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 4 at 21:40 | comment | added | wizzwizz4 | @SystemTheory The 3-adic numbers do not correspond to the reals. Neither do the complex numbers – though you can think of a complex number as a pair of reals, if you like. | |
| Apr 2 at 19:39 | comment | added | SystemTheory | @Holden Rohrer - Point taken. I don't know about functions from the reals to the reals. I know an operational amplifier can be designed to change the slope of a line from input to output which maps voltage as real numbers to other real numbers in a so-called analog computer. I wonder if relations that do not map to real numbers are derived from similar number relations anyway such as square root of negative one is not a real number. But we find it useful in the context of dynamic relations such as phase relations in electricity or other rotating machines. Some folks say reality is a computer. | |
| Apr 2 at 19:01 | comment | added | Holden Rohrer | @SystemTheory In math, we've got plenty of objects which don't map to real numbers. Consider, for example, the set of all functions from the reals to the reals. | |
| Apr 2 at 18:37 | comment | added | SystemTheory | Math is the set of numbers that map to the real number line sequence and everything else is a relation that maps to a number on the number line. It is kind of weird 1/2 = 0.5 is just two numbers that map to another number on the number line. Pi is just a ratio to an inexact number on the number line and e is another special number on the number line. Figuring out why those numbers seem to be inherent in reality rather than special ratios in our mind is above my paygrade. Are numbers and relations only ideals in our minds? Resonance of oscillator(s) maps to real numbers via dynamic unit circle. | |
| Apr 2 at 12:09 | comment | added | Rushi | Nice +1. But what's the last para claiming? I would have thought it's a trivial No. I mean what's a widthless line to start with?! You must mean something more than that... | |
| Apr 2 at 11:50 | history | answered | haxor789 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |