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A comment on Roger Penrose – Is Mathematics Invented or Discovered? [video]. Parent comment

Re:Roger Penrose – Is Mathematics Invented or Discovered? [v... by joyj2nd on Friday April 17, 2020 @06:15AM (#22897690)
I read that we can advance physics the most by research into mathematics. Sooner or later the oddest math finds application in nature, which is odd. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unreasonable_Effectiveness...

Negative numbers do of cause have their application in nature (negative charge etc.). But it is possible to do correct mathematics that have no interpretation in real live. E.g. 6 Students walk into an empty classroom, 10 walk out, you have -4 Students left.

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Re:Roger Penrose – Is Mathematics Invented or Discovered? [v... by feanaro on Friday April 17, 2020 @06:16AM (#22897698)
> E.g. 6 Students walk into an empty classroom, 10 walk out, you have -4 Students left.

The only trouble here is in the assigned interpretation. You do have -4 students left compared to the initial state but there is no reason to assume the initial state was 0.

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