Theos-Talk Archives (May 2000 Message tt00176)

Thankyou for your clarification.  I don't understand either of you so I'll
wake up and bow out.


-----Original Message-----
From: Bart Lidofsky <bartl@sprynet.com>
To: theos-talk@theosophy.com <theos-talk@theosophy.com>
Date: Thursday, May 18, 2000 9:02 PM
Subject: Re: Theos-World Mathematics, Spinoza, Leibniz


>    Aleister Crowley once said, in the introduction to one of his books,
words
>to the effect of, "Don't believe anything just because you read it in a
book".
>The book was simplifying a more complex idea.
>
>    The that Mr. Seife was trying to put forward is that the rational
numbers
>are a series of separated points, and points take up no space, and that
rational
>numbers are extremely small that, compared to irrational numbers, the space
they
>take up on the number line APPROACHES zero. Note that, by the same logic,
since
>irrational numbers are also points on the number line, they also take no
space,
>either. But there are also an infinite number of rational numbers, and if
>irrational numbers take up ANY space, then rational numbers must also take
up an
>infinite amount of space.
>
>    That is why mathemeticians have come up with the concept of degrees of
>infinity.
>
>    Bart Lidofsky
>
>Eugene Carpenter wrote:
>
>> Gee Bart.  Charles Seife states clearly in his book that the rational
number
>> occupy no space on the number line and gives what seems to little ole
>> uneducated me to be a good proof.
>>
>> Please see page 156 in ZERO, BIOGRAPHY OF A DANGEROUS IDEA.
>>
>> "How big are the rational numbers?  The take up no space at all. It's a
>> tough concept to swallow, but it's true."
>>
>> Thanks for the feedback.  This is fun! Please help me understand how if
one
>> measures in radians one will have a rational number.  How can one ever
>> measure and come up with an absolutely precise number?
>>
>> Gene
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Bart Lidofsky <bartl@sprynet.com>
>> To: theos-talk@theosophy.com <theos-talk@theosophy.com>
>> Date: Wednesday, May 17, 2000 9:17 PM
>> Subject: Re: Theos-World Mathematics, Spinoza, Leibniz
>>
>> >Eugene Carpenter wrote:
>> >
>> >> This stuff about numbers is super cool.
>> >>
>> >> I have recently learned(Zero, Biography of a Dangerous Idea, by Seife)
>> that
>> >> rational numbers occupy zero space on the number line! The irrationals
>> >> occupy most, if not all, of the number line!
>> >
>> >    Of course, the rational numbers also occupy an infinite amount of
space
>> on
>> >the number line.
>> >
>> >> Also, all measurments in science, of matter, are irrational
numbers!(same
>> >> source)
>> >
>> >    Not if you measure in radians.
>> >
>> >    Bart Lidofsky
>> >
>> >
>> >-- THEOSOPHY WORLD -- Theosophical Talk -- theos-talk@theosophy.com
>> >
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>> >
>>
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>>
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>
>
>-- THEOSOPHY WORLD -- Theosophical Talk -- theos-talk@theosophy.com
>
>Letters to the Editor, and discussion of theosophical ideas and
>teachings. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message consisting of
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