3 ms·

Thanks for your detailed response. Your example with fluid dynamics is an interesting one. If it really works as advertised and you can put these negative tempe

Thanks for your detailed response. Your example with fluid dynamics is an interesting one. If it really works as advertised and you can put these negative temperatures into every equation that takes a temperature, then yes, I can see the value. I guess I was just skeptical that it would actually work that way, since that's quite an amazing result ;-).

lloeki 12y ago
Regarding equations, for a physically unrelated but similar cognitive process, see[0] how we (A) set up a physical wave system, use complex numbers to work with wave equations, then liberally discard imaginary parts as if they never existed to get a physical result (B). (A) and (B) are anchored in physical reality, but the mathematical process in between is — as far as we know — not. As for discontinuities, another non-thermodynamic physical discontinuity is the speed of light. Special relativity predicts it's entirely possible for particles to move FTL, when it's actually crossing the boundary that's a problem. [0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plane_wave#Complex_exponential_form http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plane_wave#Complex_exponential_...