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Old 03-21-2004, 05:58 PM   #1
SephirothFF7
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Default Why Math Does Not Exist

Some of you may think I'm a moron, some of you may print this and beat your Calc teacher with this. A friend of mine and I came up with this theory late on night while watching The Exorcist (yes it is fairly random). Math cannot physically exist! Why you say? Because nothing in real physical form can go below zero!! We have concluded that most of math doesn’t exist. For example, there is no such thing as negative numbers. I can’t hold in my hand negative-something, there is no thing that is below zero. Subtraction doesn’t exist either. It is just adding negative numbers, which don’t exist. Addition doesn’t exist either because it is just subtracting negative numbers, which don’t exist. Multiplication doesn’t exist because it is just repeated addition, which doesn’t exist. Division? It doesn’t exist either, because it’s just multiplying decimals. Since multiplying doesn’t exist, how can you multiply decimals? Square roots are just dividing, which doesn’t exist. For this reason, we think there should be no math other than learning numbers. We should receive no math instruction after preschool.
(You may have heard this before, but we thought of it before hearing it before, so no flaming me)
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Old 03-21-2004, 06:31 PM   #2
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Actually you didn't cover anti-matter, which can exist (although we'd all die instantly.).. so therefore if we could hold anti-matter, we'd be holding a negative "whatever".

Doesn't matter, math is hate-inspiring though. Reminds me of the family guy quote.. I won't get it all right but it's funny.

"Now you travel for 3.45 miles down the road until you reach a road that bisects that at a 45 degree angle. In which case you then travel across the function at 30 mph. Solve for X."
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Old 03-21-2004, 06:36 PM   #3
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um......well, math isnt really a physical form of something. if im holding someting it doesnt mean im holding math. im holding matter, or just a physical object. but its a good theory though. ill spring it on my math teacher see wut she says. maybe ill get d-hall for stumping her. but i dont think addition is subtracting negative numbers....cuz then it wouldnt be called addition if it had subtraction in it. OH TAKE THAT. jk. yeah. i dunno im not a rocket scientest so im just saying wut i think.
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Old 03-21-2004, 06:37 PM   #4
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Moron.
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Old 03-21-2004, 06:42 PM   #5
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Who? Me? Yeah I'm aware I double posted an accident, all humans are capable of it moogy..yes even you
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Old 03-21-2004, 06:55 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SephirothFF7
Who? Me? Yeah I'm aware I double posted an accident, all humans are capable of it moogy..yes even you

I believe that he was refering to how idiotic your "theory" is.


I agree with him, by the way.
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Old 03-21-2004, 07:52 PM   #7
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no i think subtraction exists...if i have two apples and i take away one, how many do i have left...a simliar example would work with addind too...square roots arent dividing thats an exponent...sonce addition exists multiplying exists, division exists, and your exponents can exist...

...even a negative number is easy to imagine...if you owe someone one dollar and you only have 50 cents then you have -50 cents...you ever hear of the stockmarket...how do you think those numbers decrease...it must be magic because it certainly cant be math
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Old 03-21-2004, 08:43 PM   #8
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Half of math is conceptual anyway. You're only focusing on one aspect of it, and you're taking the theory of 'subtraction' far too literally. Take any theory- 'Dark Matter', for instance. 'Dark Matter' is supposedly what makes up all of space, which is basically just a vacuum. We can't see 'Dark Matter', we can't hear it, feel it, touch it or taste it, but we (think) it's there because it's a conceptual theory. And negative can exist- think of it in terms of currency. If I have ten dollars in my possession, and I lose a card game and owe my friend 20, then I have -10 dollars. That number exists. Not in a physical form, but it still exists, because it represents how much money I don't have.

Listen, I know you thought you were on to something big here, so I'm sorry to bust your bubble...but negative numbers definitely exist, even if only in an existential manner.
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Old 03-21-2004, 08:57 PM   #9
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idiot + forum = this topic

Idiot + Forum = This Topic
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Old 03-21-2004, 11:25 PM   #10
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She/He isnt an idiot. It is actually quite a clever theory.
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Old 03-21-2004, 11:30 PM   #11
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I was just kidding. :P It was the perfect opportunity for something like that.
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Old 03-21-2004, 11:37 PM   #12
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Math does not exist as anything more than the dopler effect does. We know it is there, and we can test it, and we can put the idea on paper, but does it actually exist? If it does, then so does math. The same is true about psychology. One natural law could change, wiping out every theory worked on.

Math is a concept though, and if you want to talk about nonexistant numbers, start talking about imaginary numbers ( i ).
You can have negative numbers though. Ever think about owing someone money?
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Old 03-22-2004, 06:27 AM   #13
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the only thing i can think of to say right now is that over 50% of math is theory (mostly physics). the dopler effect does exist. just because we cant see it doesnt mean it doesnt exist. we can hear it. and sound is real so therefore the dopler effect must be true. also we have sonic booms which are created due to the dopler effect. see how easy is it to prove something exists? If you have a baseball. and throw it at 50 mph at the point where it leaves your hand, and reachs your glove at 44 mph what does that mean? it means that the forces acting upon the ball accelerated it on the opposite direction. this acceration isnt negative. it is posotive BUT if you make a sign convention where the direction of the ball is + and the direction of the accelerating is - , it just means that the acceleration is opposite of the direction of the ball. it is not a negative acceleration. therefore the acceration exists because it is posotive. Im done for now

oh yea heres a quote that kind of sums up what i wanted to say

Quote:
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Old 03-22-2004, 06:31 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cenright
Ever think about owing someone money?
ok, thats like the 4th time thats been said, enough with the owing money
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Old 03-22-2004, 06:35 AM   #15
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i didnt post anything about money. i used my own example which blew that whole money idea out of the water . If you are smart enough to comprehend it that is
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Old 03-22-2004, 06:37 AM   #16
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as you can see i quoted cen and not you...i never said or implied you said anything about money...and yes 5th grade physics is way too hard for me to comprehend
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Old 03-22-2004, 06:42 AM   #17
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lol... i wasnt speaking about you i mean that there are some people in here who cant.
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Old 03-22-2004, 06:49 AM   #18
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And actually, he is absolutely right.

There is a set of numbers known as Natural numbers, which is only positive. Counting and Whole numbers are a part of this set, if i remember correctly. They have this set to reflect the reality that negativity doesn't really exist in a realistic sense, but only relative to something else.

For example, repulsion is shown as negative to the force of attraction, but if you used repulsion as the positive, then attraction would be negative in order to balance the equation.

So really, there is no real negative, but since they have opposite effects on each other, to represent it mathematically you have one be negative and one be positive.

I don't think owing someone money is a good example... The meaning behind it is you owe someone money, not that you have negative money. There is a difference in the meanings, one being the income you recieve has to go out to pay off debt, the other is having money which doesn't exist. It isn't a pure math term, it is a banking term.

so no one misinterprets... I am not advocating getting rid of math, because math does exist, just so much as the English language exists. Suggesting that math is inherently flawed and illogical is just a stupid and uninformed venture. I find that you misunderstanding of the language of math needing some explanation, and hoped to have cleared it up a bit more than previous posters.
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Old 03-22-2004, 07:18 AM   #19
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nt Mr.Iflunkedmath :P
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Old 03-22-2004, 03:42 PM   #20
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uhhh, most worthless "theory" ever. math is a conceptual, systematic representation of reality. Hence, though there my not be a physical definition of what you mathematically consider negative, the mathematical concept of negative IS based on the reality based concept of opposites (or lacking a certain amount of something). There is where your "theory" falls apart.


Alternately, there has been some talk about how operations are interrelated. I saw an interesting presentation about a month ago about codewords, as given by John Conway. Needless to say it was an hour long discussion that basically redefined all operations in a different "codeword" set, where the rules defining what a codeword is provided some interesting methods for simple arithmatic. It's quite interesting to see that the base 10 system is pretty arbitrary, and see that mathematics is really no more than a system of manipulation.
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