LudovicoVan
Posts:
3,008
From:
London
Registered:
2/8/08
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Re: Is it possible that 3+4=8?
Posted:
Jan 23, 2011 3:31 PM
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On Jan 23, 7:47 pm, Craig Feinstein <cafei...@msn.com> wrote:
>
> Let's pretend that we live in a world where there are invisible pixies
> running around messing everything up. Let's say you have 3 balls in
> your left hand and 4 balls in your right hand. Whenever you combine
> the balls together, one of these invisible pixies secretly throws in
> another ball, so that whenever you count the balls, you come up with 8
> balls. So in this pretend world, it is a known fact that 3+4=8. Anyone
> who disputes this fact in our pretend world is considered either crazy
> or stupid.
>
> In our real world, it is a known fact that 3+4=7. But how can we be
> sure that there are no invisible pixies running around taking balls
> away from us causing us to think that 3+4=7 when really 3+4=8?
>
> My point is that mathematics is considered a deductive science, in
> which everything is absolutely certain. But how can mathematics prove
> that the above scenario cannot be true?
I don't think mathematics is a deductive science: mathematics is
hardly a science at all. OTOH, in a world were 3+4=7, I'd also expect
1=/=0: i.e. no mathematical fact exists in isolation...
-LV
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