From: paul@fatmans.demon.co.uk
To: ichudov@algebra.com
Message Hash: fbeb173fe7f7de31ab521704dc07f3fe91d96366f29730dd030aa6a27768e42b
Message ID: <853865191.102190.0@fatmans.demon.co.uk>
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UTC Datetime: 1997-01-21 16:59:41 UTC
Raw Date: Tue, 21 Jan 1997 08:59:41 -0800 (PST)
From: paul@fatmans.demon.co.uk
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 1997 08:59:41 -0800 (PST)
To: ichudov@algebra.com
Subject: Re: Numbers we cannot talk about
Message-ID: <853865191.102190.0@fatmans.demon.co.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
> > I know that Standard mathematical axioms yields lots of interesting
> > results, but when it talks of the infinite and we are dealing
> > with a practical subject like cryptography or even physics it
> > should not be taken too seriously. (With respect to uncountable sets.)
>
> Some of the applications of these theories are very relevant. For
> example, a theorem that proves that it is impossible to write a program
> that would determine if any other program would stop or loop forever, is
> very relevant and interesting.
Absolutely, something does not have to be practical to be
interesting, Igor`s example of Cantors double slash argument (useful
for example in AI research) is something that seems very abstract
until we find a use for it, and most abstract mathematical concepts
and theorems of this kind do eventually come into use by some other
class of scientists.
Datacomms Technologies web authoring and data security
Paul Bradley, Paul@fatmans.demon.co.uk
Paul@crypto.uk.eu.org, Paul@cryptography.uk.eu.org
Http://www.cryptography.home.ml.org/
Email for PGP public key, ID: 5BBFAEB1
"Don`t forget to mount a scratch monkey"
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1997-01-21 (Tue, 21 Jan 1997 08:59:41 -0800 (PST)) - Re: Numbers we cannot talk about - paul@fatmans.demon.co.uk