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I am a math guy. There is no way to actually do these calculations in practice that does not at some point boil down to something done on a computer to finite p
by btilly 5y ago
I am a math guy. There is no way to actually do these calculations in practice that does not at some point boil down to something done on a computer to finite precision. For example if you want to plot planetary orbits you should plug in your most precise available measurements, use Runge-Kutta, and produce rational approximations.
There is no way to test our theories in practice that doesn't at some point involve comparing this finite precision prediction with a finite precision observation.
Pontificating about the failures of a discrete approximation to be able to be computationally accurate in a continuous world may be fun armchair philosophy, but CANNOT be useful scientifically. Because we can only measure and work with finite precision approximations to that hypothesized continuous reality.