• Jeredin@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    “Oh look at my beautiful math, it’s only meant to be looked at and not used to explain or discover anything.”

    • No mathematician I know
    • anzich@feddit.deOP
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      1 year ago

      This may have applications to “obscure physics topic”

      – Mathematicians I know trying to justify their work well knowing that it has no applications

    • Sloogs@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      Idk man I’ve seen mathematicians at my university shudder at applied math and they were kind of half joking and half not. Not all of the faculty were like that though, some of them had a wide range of interests! My favourite was a wonderful Polish professor named Edward who knew tons of things about not just math but also computer science, physics, and chemistry.

    • Bouchtroubouli@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Mathematician be like:

      Hey engineer ! What if we kissed at the intersection of two parallel lines ?? 😳

      Haha just kiding…

      Unless … ? 👉👈

    • OpenStars@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Mathematics is the only branch of science that will continue long after the universe ends.:-)

      • Mossy Feathers (She/They)@pawb.social
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        1 year ago

        Math is literally made up. There is no physical basis for math. Math is just another language used to describe things. The universe doesn’t care whether there’s “2 particles” or “1 particle and another particle” or “1 particle + 1 particle”. It doesn’t make these distinctions. Math only exists as long as there is an intelligent species which uses it. If there are no intelligent brains capable of using math and with a knowledge that it exists, math stops existing.

        • girl@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Except there is math in nature, such as fractals, the Fibonacci sequence, and the wave behavior or sound and light. Sure nature doesn’t have any awareness of doing math, but it is there. Not all math is made up just for our understanding.

          • Mossy Feathers (She/They)@pawb.social
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            1 year ago

            That’s kinda the point though. Math is a language inspired by reality. It describes the logical relationships between things in an abstract format. Physical sciences like physics or chemistry build off it by adding rules and units to more accurately describe or predict real-world relationships, but at the end of the day, it’s all made up. Nature isn’t doing math to create a fractal any more than you’re doing math when you move your fingers or toes. Math doesn’t create a fractal, it describes it! You can then use that description to create a fractal, but the fractal isn’t math.

            • frunch@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              This conversation reminds me of the first couple times i surfed Reddit over a decade ago. It was so cool to be in a place where intelligent and interesting discussion was happening… Wish i could contribute something useful to it, but i just want to thank you all for carrying that kind of energy into the '20s 🥂

      • DarkenLM@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Pretty sure that when humanity dies, math dies with it, and the universe won’t give two fucks about it and continue on it’s merry way.

        • morrowind@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Think e meant in the sense that math is true regardless of the universe (or some people believe)

  • Couplqnd@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I always say this to annoy my math and science friends

    Engineers live in the real world

    Scientists live in the ideal world

    And mathematicians… live in their own world