Where do numbers come from? Are they “real”? Philosopher and mathematician Kit Fine asks these questions and more in an instructive lesson on the nature of numbers. Kit Fine explores the…
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Where do numbers come from? Are they “real”? Philosopher and mathematician Kit Fine asks these questions and more in an instructive lesson on the nature of numbers. Kit Fine explores the…
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Good lecture. Have you taken a step back to think about what numbers really
are?
http://bit.ly/1BGEuoA
It’s a wonderful thing to see Kit Fine on here.
Not being a mathematician myself, I’ve always been bothered that a number
can, on the one hand, be used to represent a thing while, on the other
hand, it can be used to show a relationship. For example, in 2+2 = 4, the
“2” is a representation of a countable thing (2 apples + 2 apples).
However, in an equation like 10/5 = 2, the “2” defines the relationship
between the number 5 to the number 10 (5 goes into 10 two times). It seems
(to me) logically inconsistent to say 3 – 1 = 10/5, because the result on
either side of the equation is not the same “type” of 2. It’s akin to that
particle/wave duality in physics, where one measure represent a countable
thing (a particle), while another measures the relationship (wave).
I really wish I understood him better.. It is hard for me to conceptualize
what he is describing aren’t the Frege-Russel view and the Cantor view the
same?
Nice job, now let’s do it with imaginary number sets. ;)
cantors theorem relates to this
sur les nombres.
Oh god, this is what I call underwhelming. Today’s philosophy is in a deep
rut.
2nd
First
What are numbers. It took him 13 minutes to answer. While it took me 4
seconds to count from 0 to 9