Thursday, June 01, 2006

Ah, that Wildberger. Perhaps you know of the author of rational trigonometry? Well, he has an interesting article that suggests that set theory is flawed. It is more cogent than you might expect; after all, he is an associate professor, although I suspect I need a few more reads to try and fully understand his argument. Ah, were that I able to muse meaningfully on the foundations of mathematics! Instead, I have no choice but to dream.

6 comments:

Jenny said...

wow! he's pulling down most of what I've been learning this semester in foundations (o__o! and to a lesser extent, in metric spaces)

:o! I'm currently a bit too sleepy to read it all, (however there's a typo on page 7 ;D, he wrote 'non' instead of 'none') but it does look like something worth downloading :D

AKM said...

Indeed, but I don't know whether he's dismissing the truth of these things or just dismissing their reality. I suppose they are two different things - sometimes! It is admirable to want pure maths to be abstract but still have some reality behind it, but I don't know whether I quite agree (yet) about it being nonsense otherwise. Like I said, I wish I were able to grapple with such concepts easily, but alas, it is difficult, especially when one's mind is filled with the intricacies of enterprise software rather than the strange wonders of pure maths. Anyway, I digress...

Incidentally, must one not cite one's sources? Ah well ;)

airy voices said...

i found your blog coz i was doing a search for users who like those barren leaves (they're apparently only four).
I don't know much math so I can't comment on the recent post.. but I read your poem on fate.. and I did want to say that I really really liked it.

AKM said...

Hi :) Ah, Those Barren Leaves! I have very fond memories of reading it, and I think it was probably the first 'serious' book that I found I absolutely loved, that I found I could connect to in a way I didn't know was possible with a book. Now you've made me want to go and read it again :)

Like you said, though, there aren't many others who seem to know about it - I imagine most people who read Huxley find that they like Point Counterpoint better. It has been a while since I read either book, but from memory, I think Point derived a lot of ideas from Leaves, and didn't necessarily expand on them. I read Point almost immediately after Leaves, and I remember being a little disappointed by the repetition, so perhaps that is clouding my better judgement :)

I'm glad you liked 'Fate' :) As the comment above it suggests, it grew out of the first line, and I think it's better than most of what I've written in the past. What's funny is that the first line came out of a bad mood, and so I thought it was going to be a gloomy poem, but then coming back to it much later, I had the sense to try and look at the situation with less seriousness. I think it works better like that!

Anyway, thanks for dropping by! Your blog seems really good, I will try to read it properly once my exams are done :)

airy voices said...

i haven't read any other huxley.. i'd thought i would, which is why i started with an obscure work of his to gradually progress on to brave new world and point counterpoint..
but i like those barren leaves so much, i decided i couldn't bear to be disappointed with the others!
anyway.. good luck for your exams :)

AKM said...

Apologies for replying so late...anyhow, I do think you'll find some of Huxley's other work enjoyable. Maybe try Eyeless In Gaza? Not as obscure as Leaves, but certainly nowhere near as famous as BNW or PCP :) Mind you, I like them all, though either Leaves or BNW would have to be my favourite.