| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 1030.1 | The credit for integers ... | HIBOB::SIMMONS | Tristram Shandy as an equestrian | Tue Feb 21 1989 11:15 | 3 |
| Who was it said "God invented the integers ... "? Kronecker?
Chuck
|
| 1030.2 | Well, maybe credit for sets | POOL::HALLYB | The smart money was on Goliath | Tue Feb 21 1989 11:52 | 5 |
| This area is called (not surprisingly) "Foundations of Mathematics".
There are many books on the subject, some easier than others.
Very enjoyable, but probably a bit tough to go through on your own.
John
|
| 1030.3 | numbers are our own invention | HANNAH::OSMAN | type hannah::hogan$:[osman]eric.vt240 | Tue Feb 21 1989 16:27 | 6 |
|
But to answer the original question, numbers are our own invention.
/Eric
|
| 1030.4 | George Thomas ... | HPSMEG::KOSTAS | He is great who confers the most benefits. | Fri Feb 24 1989 11:39 | 14 |
| re. .0
George B. Thomas Jr in his book: "Calculus and Analytic Geoemtry"
writes the following:
"The earliest stage of development of man's number consiousness
was his recognition of the counting numbers 1, 2, 3, ..., which
we now refer to as positive integers or natural numbers. ...
Man used his imagination and invented the number concepts which
we denote by zero and the negative integers. "
Enjoy,
Kostas
|
| 1030.5 | | HPSTEK::XIA | | Fri Feb 24 1989 19:48 | 9 |
| re .1
> Who was it said "God invented the integers ... "? Kronecker?
Yes, it was Kronecker. It was something like "God invented the
integers, and mathematicians did the rest", but nowadays, it has
been turned into: "God invented the empty set, and mathematicians
did the rest".
Eugene
|