Author |
Topic: Rational Result (Read 2514 times) |
|
wowbagger
Uberpuzzler
 
Gender: 
Posts: 727
|
 |
Re: Rational Result
« Reply #25 on: Jun 30th, 2003, 9:36am » |
 Quote  Modify
|
on Jun 30th, 2003, 9:05am, Sir Col wrote:
I wasn't sure if 'Geistes' was best translated as mind or spirit. |
|
I see. After looking both up (to answer a little more confidently), I stick with "mind". In German you could also use "Verstand", so maybe "intellect" is another option? Although that doesn't sound too good in my opinion.
|
| « Last Edit: Jun 30th, 2003, 9:37am by wowbagger » |
 IP Logged |
"You're a jerk, <your surname>!"
|
|
|
Icarus
wu::riddles Moderator
Uberpuzzler
Boldly going where even angels fear to tread.
Gender:
Posts: 4863
|
|
Re: Rational Result
« Reply #26 on: Jul 5th, 2003, 3:56pm » |
Quote Modify
|
on Jun 30th, 2003, 6:18am, wowbagger wrote:The only way I've ever seen his name written in German is "Kronecker" (plain o, no umlaut). However, googling around for a few minutes produced these "alternatives": Kroeneker (seems to be widespread in English writing, also in Spanish and Portuguese), Kröneker (English, French), Krönecker (English), Kroenecker (English).
|
|
Hmm... I just looked through several of my college texts, and the ones that include him in the index all used Kronecker.  I'm not sure where I got the oe or ö from. I guess some names tend to "attract" misspellings!
on Jun 27th, 2003, 4:13pm, Sir Col wrote:| Actually, I believe that the story is a myth, as Alfred Nobel was never married. |
|
The story I heard was a fight over a shared mistress. This does not require Nobel to be married. If it is a myth, why did Nobel overlook a major field of intellectual endeavor?
Quote:| What did Dedekind mean by, "The natural numbers are the free creation of the human mind"? |
|
I would guess he meant the same thing that I did in my post stating that Kronecker was wrong. Kronecker did not literally mean that the Natural numbers were the result of Divine Creation, but rather that they were undefinable, like "point, line, plane" in geometry. From Kronecker's point of view, the natural numbers were the foundation on which you built the whole edifice of arithmetic.
After he made this remark, the work of Peano, Cantor, and Dedekind showed that the natural numbers themselves could be defined in terms of the simpler concepts of set theory. This is the meaning of Dedekind's statement.
|
|
IP Logged |
"Pi goes on and on and on ...
And e is just as cursed.
I wonder: Which is larger
When their digits are reversed? " - Anonymous
|
|
|
towr
wu::riddles Moderator
Uberpuzzler
Some people are average, some are just mean.
Gender:
Posts: 13730
|
|
Re: Rational Result
« Reply #27 on: Jul 6th, 2003, 7:15am » |
Quote Modify
|
on Jul 5th, 2003, 3:56pm, Icarus wrote:| The story I heard was a fight over a shared mistress. This does not require Nobel to be married. If it is a myth, why did Nobel overlook a major field of intellectual endeavor? |
|
I believe it was because there allready was a prestigious prize for mathematics, and he didn't want to 'compete' with one of his own.
|
|
IP Logged |
Wikipedia, Google, Mathworld, Integer sequence DB
|
|
|
towr
wu::riddles Moderator
Uberpuzzler
Some people are average, some are just mean.
Gender:
Posts: 13730
|
|
Re: Rational Result
« Reply #28 on: Jul 6th, 2003, 7:20am » |
Quote Modify
|
There is of course a site on the internet dedicated to urban myths and the like. Probably more than a few, but the best one I know is snopes
nobel myth
(I'm not gonna copy the whole thing, so just read it if you're interested. There allready being a prize is one of three possible reasons mentioned.)
|
|
IP Logged |
Wikipedia, Google, Mathworld, Integer sequence DB
|
|
|
Icarus
wu::riddles Moderator
Uberpuzzler
Boldly going where even angels fear to tread.
Gender:
Posts: 4863
|
|
Re: Rational Result
« Reply #29 on: Jul 6th, 2003, 1:58pm » |
Quote Modify
|
Thanks!. Its interesting that the version of the story that I was told had even switched to a different mathematician. I guess you can't believe everything you're taught in college! 
|
|
IP Logged |
"Pi goes on and on and on ...
And e is just as cursed.
I wonder: Which is larger
When their digits are reversed? " - Anonymous
|
|
|
|
RIDDLES SITE
WRITE MATH!
Home 
Help 
Search 
Members 
Login 
Register
Reply
Notify of replies
Send Topic
Print