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Mathematics isn’t any less messy than software development - it precisely is software development. A theorem is a program we run on our wetware, and if a given
by notduncansmith 8y ago
Mathematics isn’t any less messy than software development - it precisely is software development. A theorem is a program we run on our wetware, and if a given wetware runtime doesn’t support the memory or time requirements for a theorem, it won’t run correctly.
It’s also no less messy than anything else. Mathematics can still only offer us relative truth, and the differences between a theorem and a sharp stick are pretty superficial.
- smilliken 8y agoYou're right. Mathematics is a program that runs in a brain, which is a wet computer. Subjectively, the distinction is useful. I'm never going to have a different brain, and I won't outlive my brain, so for all intents and purposes, my brain is an eternal constant. Theorems that ran on my brain once have accomplished their goal of convincing and never need to be run again. They are immutable.
- panic 8y ago> A theorem is a program we run on our wetware, and if a given wetware runtime doesn’t support the memory or time requirements for a theorem, it won’t run correctly. You can use a theorem without "running" it, though. The classification of finite simple groups took thousands of pages to prove; it would be pretty inconvenient if you had to read all those pages to use the theorem!
- notduncansmith 8y agoIndeed, we usually don’t recompile the compiler every time we use it either.