[PREV - INFINITE_WILDBERGER]    [TOP]

CEREBROUSUS_MATHEMATICA


                                             October 18, 2019

An odd (even for me) thought I had
recently:

The mathematical purist frequently objects
to the way most computer languages use a "="        Some languages got
for the assignment operation:                       stuck with an alternate
                                                    to make mathists feel
   $this = $that;                                   better:  ":=" or "<-"...
                         After this is run,     
                         the value of $this     
                         has been changed to    
                         the value of $that.    
                                                
The math version of '=' is used to express    
some sort of absolute, eternal truth: this             An equality check
is the same as that, now and forever.                  (typically "==")
                                                       is *similar* to
Doesn't that sound kind of funny?                      the mathematically
You don't often find one of these                      "=", though hardly
eternal truths out in the wild.                        identical.

                                                       An expression like this
The odd thought:                                       *might* evaluate to
                                                       true *at the moment*,
What would happen if you tried                         but it also might be
to rebuild math around the                             false:
assignment operation, bringing
it in-line with the way our        The resolution         ($this == $that)
computer languages work, rather    of Russell's
than trying to come up with        paradox would
computer languages that are        then be that
more like math?                    it's a condition
                                   that oscillates:

This one doesn't sound like            The set of all things not contained by
an easy thought to pursue,             a set keeps flipping inside and outside
and I'm not likely to get              of itself, much in the same way that
right on it any day soon....           when we examine such paradoxes we step
                                       through the condition verbally...

I think there's a funny                If you don't insist on one eternally
similarity with Wildberger's           correct answer to every question,
insistance on re-focusing              perhaps you could design a form of math
math on numbers that are               that could confront such things without
actually computable:                   going in to brain lock with smoke
                                       pouring out of it's ears.
          INFINITE_WILDBERGER









--------
[NEXT - EXCURSIONS_IN_THEORY]