Gang:
Mike has important considerations in this message, but I really want
to consider something else. Some postulates: (1)At some point
everyone needs to come to grips with the deductive nature of
mathematics. (2) At some point everyone needs to come to grips with
the inductive nature of physics. Having said that, I think that the
ways that mathematics and physics have developed are much more alike
than many are willing to admit. Remember, in the book of Kings the
craftsmen working on Solomon's temple noticed that the distance
around one of the cedar logs was approximately three times the
diameter. These craftsmen probably had a very weak definition of a
round log, but they were learning something about roundness. It
produces a circumference which is about 3 times the diameter.
Experimental math? I wonder?
Barlow Newbolt
Department of Physics and Engineering
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, VA 24450
Young man if I could remember the names of all of
these particles I would have become a botanist
Enrico Fermi
Telephone and Phone Mail: 540-463-8881
Fax: 540-463-8884
e-mail: NewboltW@madison.acad.wlu.edu