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The negative numbers and the number zero have similar problems with being fully manifested in our physical experience. Numbers are a logical tool and what the f
by mike00632 6y ago
The negative numbers and the number zero have similar problems with being fully manifested in our physical experience. Numbers are a logical tool and what the full range of Real Numbers gives us is the logical foundation for "smoothness".
Also, of the discrete Natural numbers, you are unlikely to witness in your entire lifetime any number larger than 10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10, i.e. virtually all of the numbers are inaccessible to you except for in your imagination.
- currymj 6y agoit’s not about physical experience, though. you just described zero, negative numbers, and 10^10^10... what’s weird is that almost all numbers are inaccessible, even in our imaginations.
- mike00632 6y agoThe real numbers are perfectly accessable in our imaginations. They just have different properties than some other numbers and are used for different things. It would be similarly absurd to say that we can't "access" negative numbers in our heads. Of course we can. We can construct the Real numbers and consider them in their entirety. In fact, we have a conception of the Reals as we use them in other mathematics.