Re: the need for relevance

Gonçalo Rodrigues wrote:

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:24:57 +0100, Han de Bruijn
<Han.deBruijn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> fed this fish to the penguins:

Gonçalo Rodrigues wrote:

Just for the sake of my curiosity, could you please answer if you
agree or not that mathematics is an autonomous discipline, with its
own field of activity, whose principles are not borrowed from other
disciplines?

I do _not_ agree. The word "discipline" alone implies that there must
be something disciplinary about its axioms. Meaning that these axioms
can not fall out of the Big Blue Sky. Meaning that there must be some
source _outside_ mathematics that provides the axioms/its principles.

Once the axioms have been established, mathematics can proceed as an
independent discpline, but not earlier. A well known source of axioms
is physics. Newton once said that mechanics is the source of geometry,
for the simple reason that you can "draw" a line. Back to the roots:

http://hdebruijn.soo.dto.tudelft.nl/QED/klassiek.htm

Why not (please) "waste your time" on this page for once in your life?

I will read that page of yours, and respond to your response here as
well, later, when I have the time.

Thanks!

But I like to know my opponents ? Is this _you_:

http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=79078

Han de Bruijn

.

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