Glen, 

Yes.  I am sorry. That was my fault.   There was a bit of a slipup between
the "provost" and the professor.  

Byers main point is that it is AMBIGUITY that makes maths great!  But its a
subtle argument because what he is really saying is ironic:  as
mathematicians strive to reduce amibiguity they inevitably generate more,
and thus, against their feverish and futile resistance, does math progress.


nick 

Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology, 
Clark University ([email protected])
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
http://www.cusf.org [City University of Santa Fe]




> [Original Message]
> From: glen e. p. ropella <[email protected]>
> To: <[email protected]>; The Friday Morning Applied Complexity
Coffee Group <[email protected]>
> Date: 3/22/2010 4:09:05 PM
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] (advice needed!)
>
> Thus spake Nicholas Thompson circa 10-03-22 12:35 PM:
> > Forgive me if I have asked you this before:  Have you ever read Byers
HOW
> > MATHEMATICIANS THINK?  
>
> I bought it specifically for the seminar; but I don't recall any
> assignments from it; so now it's on my "to read" list... keeping company
> with the thousands ... well, ok 10s of other books waiting patiently.
[grin]
>
> -- 
> glen e. p. ropella, 971-222-9095, http://agent-based-modeling.com



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