Haha, this thread made me cry and laugh at the same time.
I understand whats going on, but I'm not quite sure what succ() is representing here.
Name:
Anonymous2005-11-26 23:48
>>10
2 is way down there with regards to lonely numbers; anything above fifty or so and any idividual one in any number is basically as lonely as 1. It's possible to be more alone in a crowd that it is completely alone you know?
This is how I understand it (admitingly not great at math):
The concept of 2 plus the concept of 2 equals the conept of 4.
The arbirary symbol we give meaning to these concepts don't matter.
I see this happen in the real world. I get 2 apples and put it next 2 other apples. I declare I have 4 apples.
But what bugs me is some very wierd concepts thrown at me by people in abstract math, or even 1984. Or something. Can 2+2=5 ever? And I'm not talking about the symbols, but the concept of those numbers.
And they keep telling me subtraction really doesn't exist. And how does Godels inconsistency theorems play a role in this?
Is math an a priori synthetical?
>>23
If you have two(2) ropes, with two (2) knots on either one. You tie them together and get another knot. This makes five knots from adding two (2) knots and two (2) knots together, without using any rope except for that which you already had. 2 + 2 = 5