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Re: definition of "wave"



A matematician, you are likely to agree, could not function without
a definition. Right?

If definitions are unimportant how can we use mathematics in physics?
We must define concepts before analyzing them mathematically.

John wrote:

...It provides a lesson on the unimportance of definitions. Students
often demand a definition of this or that, and they get really ticked
off if theydon't get one. But I suspect most real-world physicists get
along just fine without having a precise definition of "wave".
Biologists can't even agree on the definition of "plant" and "animal".

Can this be an illustration for saying that biology is not as scientific as
physics? Probably not.

A poet would say "I see waves in a field of wheat". Heads of plants
oscillate is space and time. A physicist would say that a set of unlinked
oscillators is not a wave. I am assuming plants do not touch each other.
Each plant is driven only by the gusts of wind.
Ludwik Kowalski