[lit-ideas] Re: Numbers
- From: Teemu Pyyluoma <teme17@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 04:44:51 -0800 (PST)
Trying to digest what has been written here...
I find Wager's analogy of three to blue interesting
because it leads to me think of the systematic aspects
of colors vs. numbers. Colors on the whole can be
reduced primary colors or vawe-lenghts of light, we
can not see neither but if one mixes blue and yellow
one (as in painting) one gets green, and when one
mixes red, green and blue light correctly with a
(computer) display one gets yellow. The point I'm
after that while blueness may be intuitive, the rules
of how to mix colors to get other colors are not.
Same with numbers. "5" as such is no different from
"xxxxx", or the number of fingers I have in both of my
hands. That 2+3 is 5 is an entirely different thing.
Numbers as such are one thing, and numbers as a part
of a web of rules known as mathematics is another.
Cheers,
Teemu
Helsinki, Finland
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