Just what are they?
We use them everyday because we want to get to the next one.
We usually do it by adding, subtracting, or multiplying.
People with Bank accounts know about subtracting (it is called an "overdraft"). Sometimes they "add" as well.
People who are already rich know about multiplying ("profit").
How about "division"?
This happens when you have more than one bank account and you want to decide how much money to put in each.
And that is it.
For everyday life, this is just fine. But some people like to explore. Exploration is not limited to walking to new places with your feet. Some people like to walk with their minds. Numbers was one of the first areas to do this.
The first question was "Is there a highest number?"
The second was " What is it?"
Try it!
You quickly get into difficulties because cannot actually name the number you are thinking of. This is because most people have given up naming them. The reason? There IS no highest number.
The illustration is that no matter what number you care to name ( even if it is a ZigZillion master-scrutxillion ten billion billion smacktrillian)) you can always add 1 to it to get a bigger number.
So what is the point?
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Numbers
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1 comment:
Thanks for moving into my field a bit at least. Although this is more into the area of thought about numbers than their manipulation and uses, I wonder if Time comes to an end, the existance of humans and this universe; if maybe that brings an end to numbers and defines the highest number obtainable? That is that numbers are finite afterall. If not, would that not mean that numbers are beyond us and might define some dimension? Even might be the "definer" of all dimensions?
I am much better at bank accounts, though I am even limited in some respects in that area. This seems like it might be a much deeper idea than most people are trained to deal with. Numbers seem entwined in all of nature and the universe, yet they seem an invention of man for man's sake. Even so, mankind seems designed to be pattern finders, but at its core, is mathematics/numbers a pattern for finding patterns?
I do not know the right questions to ask, how to define them, or how to define the answers correctly. Still, numbers in all their simplicity and all their complexity seem to be saying something. The question would seem to be, what are numbers ultimately saying? No one seems to know.
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