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A comment on Surprising hidden order unites prime numbers and crystal-like materials. Parent comment

Re:Surprising hidden order unites prime numbers and crystal-... by calibas on Saturday September 08, 2018 @06:38PM (#17943197)
While I certainly understand that math and physics are separate concepts, physics as we know it wouldn't be possible without math. I'm sure in your mind you can separate them, but if you took math away from physics, we wouldn't have modern physics.

Math is how physics is given practical application, if anything, that means science is more abstract than math is.

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Re:Surprising hidden order unites prime numbers and crystal-... by s-shellfish on Monday September 10, 2018 @12:40AM (#17949426)
It's about direction of influence.

Physics should not influence math. Math has to be a consequence of it's own axioms, or have it's properties tested against it's own constructions.

Otherwise math falls apart. Then it's useless for physics.

Practical application is wonderful for math. But the direction math is crafted and interpreted matters a lot.

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