May

4

Mathematics does not correspond precisely with the real world. It gives an unnatural sense of precision that does not exist. The equals sign is a good example of a basic fault with math. Take 1=1 which seems simple, but in the real world nothing is equal to another thing, and nothing is the same as something else. Everything differs from everything else in some manner, in small details, in space, in time. Nowhere in nature or the real world will you find a line, a circle or a point. Zero is convenient for computations but zero does not and cannot by definition exist. This problematic from a philosophical standpoint.

Math may be useful as a model to help predict or understand but has basic flaws that are often overlooked at the users peril. The remarkable advances due to math cannot be denied, but from the realist's view, the discrepancies loom large. From this discrepancy creeps in random results present in the real world.The Mathmatician argues that calculus and limits, and statistical procedures account for this real world fuzziness, but the idea of limits and central limits can be ways of shortcutting by creating a simple model to represent a much more complex process and cramming it into a little figure which remains black, non transparaent and unexplained.

The mathmatician argues, "Who are you, untrained philosopher who never studied math, to say this." Point granted, but the analysis stands.

The bright side of statistics is that it attempts to measure the discrepancy between the line, the curve and the real world and in the process captures some information about the real world and its deformities exhibited as randomness.


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