[FRIAM] Can empirical discoveries be mathematical?

[thompnickson2 at gmail.com]

OK fine.  Is it an empirical thingamabob or a mathematical one. 

 

Nick Thompson

 <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com

 <https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

 

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Eric Charles
Sent: Friday, September 3, 2021 11:38 AM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Can empirical discoveries be mathematical?

 

I mean... I feel like "discovery" if the first challenge for your classification system to justify... ;- )

 

On Fri, Sep 3, 2021, 11:24 AM <thompnickson2 at gmail.com <mailto:thompnickson2 at gmail.com> > wrote:

Colleagues,

 

Years ago, my daughter, who knows I hate to shop, bought me a bunch of plain T-shirts.  The label’s on the shirts were printed, rather than attached, and so have faded.  Each morning, this leaves me with the problem of decerning which is the front and which the back of the shirt, and even, which the inside and which the out-.  After years of fussing with these shirts I decerned a pattern.  Up/down, inside-in/inside-out, left/right, front/back, crossed arms/uncrossed arms, you can’t do one transformation without doing at least one other.  

 

Is this an empirical discovery or a mathematical one? 

 

I guess it boils down to whether “front/back” entails in its meaning another transformation.   Should we call empirical discoveries “discoveries” and mathematical discoveries “revelations”?

 

Nick 

 

Nick Thompson

ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> 

https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

 

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