Poemranker [Replying] Sat May 04 02:45:00 PDT 2024

Replying to a comment on:

Division it was that upheld him. He divided one by one third and found the answer three. Then six by two, this too, three. He tried it on seven, the log of eleven, even the cube root of two to the eighth. Everything he divided by a third of itself yielded none other than three. So he generalized and preached to the world âx / x/3 = 3. Itâs true for You! Let it be carved on my stone and laughed at if ever disproved.â Now his body lies deep in the ground. His equation waves like a flag. And all who pass say there lies a man that nobody ever found wrong.

patty t

4-Jan-05/6:41 PM

i'm saying that a facile statement like "a thing divided by a third of itself equals three" (x/x/3)=3) isn't a (mathematical) theorem AT ALL, but a mere logical/notational (if not grammatical) truism. mathematics is interesting because it can make conclusions about things that aren't immediately obvious. statements that are tautologic like 1=1 are, strictly speaking, mathematically uninteresting, and it does a disservice to serious thought to call such things math.

if you want to take the euclidean view, and say that ALL math is a priori and analytic (ie based fundamentally on logical axioms), then you should go back and live with Newton in the 17th century. Non-euclidean spaces, Einstein and a fellow named Kurt Godel have proven false the notion that logic and math are identical.

ok I'll stop ranting now, b/c it's way past the point of being helpful to the poem :)

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