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  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

Order out of chaos.

Tom dinning

Registrant*
A mate of mine did his PhD dissertation on the Mathematics of Photosynthesis.
Yet he couldn’t ride a motorcycle.
What’s the fun in that.
But it got me wondering.

Is there. Maths in this?

AD563C12-381E-4A9B-B375-4C02E3B1C560.jpeg
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Tom,

But it got me wondering.

Is there. Maths in this?

Well, mathematics is a man-made structure. Mathematics does not govern anything that happens in nature (although we may describe what happens in mathematical terms).

Best regards,

Doug
 

Tom dinning

Registrant*
Hi, Tom,



Well, mathematics is a man-made structure. Mathematics does not govern anything that happens in nature (although we may describe what happens in mathematical terms).

Best regards,

Doug

Then, does (can) maths EXPLAIN what happens in nature?
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
Then, does (can) maths EXPLAIN what happens in nature?

The paradox here resides on the definition of "explanation". As Doug posted, math is just a descriptive language. It does not explain, it allows us to build a model which we can use to predict things. When the prediction matches the measurements accurately enough, we have a working theory. That, people call an "explanation".

Isn't DNA code; math? Which leads to the bigger question nobody wants anyone to ask. Who DID the math?

DNA code is just that: a code. It describes the steps a cell uses to build elements, normally proteins.
Codes are, generally speaking, mathematical objects. That is, we can build a one-to-one relationship, a bijection, between a particular DNA molecule an a mathematical object which is easier for us humans to handle. Then, we can study that mathematical object and try to build a model on the relationship between that object and a particular protein. We are not that far.

Your last question is, obviously, related to religion. Please consider that mathematics are not suited to answer that particular question. They can neither prove nor disprove any answer.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Isn't DNA code; math? Which leads to the bigger question nobody wants anyone to ask. Who DID the math?
I don't think that DNA is math anymore than the description of a persons face is math. One can describe a shape in math, but the shape is not that. Its made of skin and blood vessels.

Same with DNA, its a physical structure and we know its anatomy. Someone wants to dscribe it in math form, go ahead. Perhaps there is some utility, but DNA is not math.

Asher
 

Tom dinning

Registrant*
How limiting our language is.
“Poppy, how many do I need?”
“Lots”
“How many?”
“More”
“Yet”
“A few more”
“Now?”
“Yes. How many do you have?”
“20”
“Correct.”
Poppy, why didn’t you say 20 in the first instant?”
 
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