Cancer Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word Oh, any small theorem about lemmings would be a lemming lemma. Chances are it's an existence theorem, e.g., "At least one lemming somewhere has thrown himself off a cliff." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word Voluntarily or not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word One assumes, by the wording, voluntarily. But who knows? One might've held up a pistol and ordered this rhetorical lemming to throw himself off the cliff, and he jumped, thinking his odds better with gravity than a bullet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word Thats the way things go with existence theorems. Once you know that it ever happens, you start working on how. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word Oh, I've been doing that most of my life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word One can spend a lot of time on the existence theorems, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word One could, or one could just speculate a lot. I prefer the latter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word That kind of thing gets you Fermat's Last Theorem at best, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word Erm, okay. Well, apparently, I'd be famous in the field of mathematics, at least. (I thought the Pythagorean Theorem was more famous?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word Well, yeah, but the Pythagorean Theorem is famous and proven. Fermat has a reputation for being a decent but not quite top-notch mathematician because of the appearance of his marginal comment about the Last Theorem ... it is now believed that he came across one of the elegant-looking but not quite correct proofs that have kicked around after his death, but one cannot be sure that he lacked a beautiful general proof that has eluded everyone since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word Elegant-looking? Mathematicians have a weird definition of elegant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word They most certainly do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word I'd ask you a question about that, but then you'd give me an answer, and I'd just blink in confusion. So instead, I'll smile and nod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word Well, there are some approachable books about mathematics history that might point in the right direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word *thattaway* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word Are you kidding? Regular human history is out of my grasp, right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word . . . Out of everyone's grasp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word I'm not so sure about that. My friend, the journalist, seems to have a pretty good handle on it. I ask her whenever I have a question about historican context. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word Math history might be OK for you anyway. It's just geeks, really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word I'm not much of a math geek. Well, not since middle school, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word I'm trying hard to turn my kids into math geeks. Hopefully CPS won't get me before the task is complete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted November 2, 2007 Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word Whoo! Time to go home! I read "math" as . . . well, with an e, instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted November 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word Oh' date=' any small theorem about lemmings would be a lemming lemma. Chances are it's an existence theorem, e.g., "At least one lemming somewhere has thrown himself off a cliff."[/quote'] Occham's razor? He fell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted November 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2007 Re: The Last Word Are you kidding? Regular human history is out of my grasp' date=' right now.[/quote'] what about NGD history? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 3, 2007 Report Share Posted November 3, 2007 Re: The Last Word There is no history, only the page at the end of the thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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