N'Al on 4/10/2011 at 12:34
loads of insight
june gloom on 4/10/2011 at 18:10
load of 4 months ago
Briareos H on 4/10/2011 at 18:56
Good timing to resurrect the thread and bring an element of answer to:
Quote Posted by Matthew
That set me thinking as to what other constants or long-held rules are the subject of considerable debate or challenge.
Peano axioms, the basis of modern arithmetic, were claimed to be inconsistent during September by one Edward Nelson, professor at Princeton. His demonstration was debunked a few days ago, read about it (
http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2011/09/the_inconsistency_of_arithmeti.html) here (and its subsequent comments by Terence Tao, and Edward Nelson), it's fascinating.
While this event holds no importance in the long term, it's interesting to see a scientific field so united and quick to react. It shows how much goes beyond the scenes and why "considerable debates or challenges" in mathematics do not reach outside to the mass-public sphere. There's a good writeup about this (
http://www.newappsblog.com/2011/10/the-inconsistency-of-pa-and-consensus-in-mathematics.html) on this blog.
Matthew on 5/10/2011 at 14:15
Yes, that was a very interesting article! Is it due to mathematics, at its core, being a subject where tests are by their nature easy to reproduce and therefore one can quickly determine any errors or lack thereof?
Brian The Dog on 8/10/2011 at 11:14
One of my previous lecturers in Physics is interested in fundamental "constants" of nature that might vary in time. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_Magueijo) Joao Magueijo. He was incredibly smart, but no-one's quite sure if varying c over the age of the universe will solve the horizon problem in Cosmology (I'm not even sure if it needs solving now anyway, since Dark Energy was discovered after my undergrad Cosmology course, and works well enough).
Pyrian on 11/10/2011 at 01:05
Quote Posted by Briareos H
While this event holds no importance in the long term, it's interesting to see a scientific field so united and quick to react. It shows how much goes beyond the scenes and why "considerable debates or challenges" in mathematics do not reach outside to the mass-public sphere.
I can't get the average internet forum to agree that 0.999...=1. If something like that had potential to be hijacked for a well-funded religious or political cause, I think you'd see results that much more strongly resembled the so-called debates over evolution, etc..
heywood on 11/10/2011 at 02:22
Quote Posted by Brian The Dog
One of my previous lecturers in Physics is interested in fundamental "constants" of nature that might vary in time. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_Magueijo) Joao Magueijo. He was incredibly smart, but no-one's quite sure if varying c over the age of the universe will solve the horizon problem in Cosmology (I'm not even sure if it needs solving now anyway, since Dark Energy was discovered after my undergrad Cosmology course, and works well enough).
I think you mean inflation, not dark energy.
