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Mathematics Without Numbers (1959)

70 points by measurablefunc

by jbandela1

8 subcomments

I think the biggest mistake people make when thinking about mathematics is that it is fundamentally about numbers.
It’s not.
Mathematics is fundamentally about relations. Even numbers are just a type of relation (see Peano numbers).
It gives us a formal and well-studied way to find, describe, and reason about relation.

by zygentoma

1 subcomments

by rramadass

0 subcomment

Interesting paper; had not known of this earlier. Thanks for posting.
Mathematics is the study of Abstractions and Modeling using these abstractions. Entities/Attributes/Rules establishing Relationships (numerical and otherwise) all fall out of this.
The best way to understand this is through the idea of a Formal System - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_system All that the common man thinks of as "Mathematics" are formal systems.
A good example is this wired article How Do People Actually Catch Baseballs? - https://www.wired.com/story/how-do-people-actually-catch-bas... (archive link https://archive.is/Aarww)

by Zambyte

1 subcomments

Is there a source from somewhere that didn't kill Aaron Swartz? I'd rather not reward them with a click.

by dinkelberg

4 subcomments