i saw an equation in my dreams lastnight! opinions?

[Kilgore Trout]

But...but...but...if I have 1/2 of a pie in one hand and 1/2 of a pie in the other hand don't I still have two pies?

We'll split a pie. I'll split my half into two, and now I have twice as much pie as you do. I think I figured out how Jesus did the whole bread and fish thing.

 

[sandy whitelinger]

You have two pies. If you combine them, you have one larger pie. Its that simple.

So in what chapter of your manual will you discuss the dual meaning of + ?

 

[ladybug77]

Basically, Ladybug, you had an epiphany about a mathmatical system that dates back to the Egyptians. Now, take another nap and have a dream you are in India and will have another epiphany.

And yet we claim the egyptians were more advanced than we are now. maybe we make it all too complicated, when its simple.

 

[sandy whitelinger]

We'll split a pie. I'll split my half into two, and now I have twice as much pie as you do. I think I figured out how Jesus did the whole bread and fish thing.

When you chew your pie into smaller pieces the math is really bizarre, almost calculitical.

 

[LegionOnomaMoi]

And yet we claim the egyptians were more advanced than we are now.

We don't

 

[sandy whitelinger]

And yet we claim the egyptians were more advanced than we are now. maybe we make it all too complicated, when its simple.

Fine, throw in cultural bias into the equation...hey...a new chapter for your manual. :yes: You can have a whole section on Indian mathmatics.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

When you chew your pie into smaller pieces the math is really bizarre, almost calculitical.

I've just figured out how to use this to become rich! If I take a dollar bill and cut it into a thousand pieces, I'll then have 1,000 dollars. I can turn 1,000 bucks into a million dollars with some sharp scissors and a bit of eye strain!

 

[ladybug77]

Several years ago I got a book by Ted Shifrin on multivariate mathematics. It's a textbook intended for those who have taken calculus and it presents linear algebra and multivariable calculus in a joint course. At the back is suggestions for further (more advanced) reading on topics covered. One recommendation is for a book by Michael Spivak entitled Calculus. It's a single variable calculus textbook. In other words, it's more basic than Shifrin's text. Yet it was suggested for further reading.

Even more startling, unlike most calculus textbooks it doesn't begin with a quick review of precalc or a chapter on functions but with addition.

That's right. Here's a book on calculus more advanced than one intended for those who have completed both single and multivariable calculus and it begins with addition.

Why? Because it's really more about analysis (which calculus serves as the doorway to). Most calculus textbooks quickly get to limits and then derivatives. This one starts with numbers, then more about numbers, then functions, and doesn't get to limits until a few chapters in. Why? Because it is about really understanding what adding, subtracting, etc., is. It deals with proofs. It deals with the structure of mathematics imposed by operations on a set like the integers. It's about not simply learning how to solve problems in calculus but what calculus really is.

Einstein wasn't all that great with math and he was a genius. But it is one thing not to know math well and be smart. It is another to be smart and not know math well but try to redefine it anyway. The route to understanding isn't through trying to reinvent the last several thousand years of mathematical study. You'll never get as far as Euclid and Archimedes, let alone Leibniz and Newton. If you wish to really understand the basics, there are resources that will allow you to do so. Nor is it a waste of time. I used that calculus book which began with addition after I had already been teaching high school math, test prep math, college statistics, and had worked through calculus. It was still useful. Mathematics is about learning to be clear and explicit. It's about syntax and structure. Sure, philosophy enters into it. But one shouldn't try to take a position on the philosophy of mathematics without knowing a decent amount of math.

Thats the thing...i was wonderful at math! I used to be...but i forgot most of it. that was 8 years ago.

 

[LegionOnomaMoi]

When you chew your pie into smaller pieces the math is really bizarre, almost calculitical.

Only if they were infinitesimal pieces.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

We don't

Yeah, but we couldn't even build the pyramids today if we wanted. I mean, unless the aliens came back to help us again.

 

[sandy whitelinger]

I've just figured out how to use this to become rich! If I take a dollar bill and cut it into a thousand pieces, I'll then have 1,000 dollars.

No, I think you will have 1,000 pieces.

 

[LegionOnomaMoi]

Yeah, but we couldn't even build the pyramids today if we wanted. I mean, unless the aliens came back to help us again.

Right. That's why we more advanced. Because they only built them with the help of aliens. But we can build buildings and all we had to do was decode the alien plans and build them ourselves. We like regular genie-uses compared to them 'gyptians.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

No, I think you will 1,000 pieces.

Ahhh, I got it now. I'll cut it into a thousand dollars. Bon voyage suckers, I'm off to pick out my new yacht.

 

[sandy whitelinger]

Only if they were infinitesimal pieces.

"Would you like you pizza cut into 4 or 8 slices?"
"You better make it 4, I can't eat 8 slices."

 

[sandy whitelinger]

Yeah, but we couldn't even build the pyramids today if we wanted.

Damned unions!

 

[Kilgore Trout]

"Would you like you pizza cut into 4 or 8 slices?"
"You better make it 4, I can't eat 8 slices."

Just leave it as one slice. That way you won't gain as much weight.

 

[LegionOnomaMoi]

Ahhh, I got it now. I'll cut it into a thousand dollars. Bon voyage suckers, I'm off to pick out my new yacht.

Good lord! I'm a millionaire! No wait...[gets scissors] now I'm a billionaire...now a trillionaire...damn scissors are too thick. Let me get my scalpel and get richer.

 

[sandy whitelinger]

Just leave it as one slice. That way you won't gain as much weight.

No matter how much you gain you will still be minus infinity pounds.

 

[ladybug77]

Right. That's why we more advanced. Because they only built them with the help of aliens. But we can build buildings and all we had to do was decode the alien plans and build them ourselves. We like regular genie-uses compared to them 'gyptians.

Thats contradictory. We decoded the aliens plans?? Ok...without the plan, there would be nothing to decode.

 

[sandy whitelinger]

Ladybug, go to bed to night repeating to yourself, "Numeric place value system, numeric place value system." I'd be interested in tommorows post.