[HM] The arithmetic of physical modeling

M Robert Showalter (showalte@macc.wisc.edu)
Sun, 03 Jan 1999 14:02:17 -0600

I've read *Historia Matematica* for some time now, with great and growing
respect. Historians of mathematics have a sense of mathematics, and
mathematical-physical mapping, as historical and human constructs that
can be questioned. I'm working on a question that may be better
understood and evaluated by historians of mathematics than by anyone
else.

Question: Could the ARITHMETICAL rules we now use in physical
modeling be incomplete?

I believe that the question is one of great scientific interest,
and also a plain matter of life and death in neural medicine.

I believe that the arithmetical rules we use in physical modeling
are incomplete, and have been incomplete since before Newton's time.
For the matter to be reviewed, rather than dismissed, the possibility
of that incompleteness has to be THINKABLE.

There are four submissions:

Could the arithmetic of physical modeling be incomplete?

Questions for historians of mathematics

Bibliographical Background

A proposed "rough history"

I'm making these submissions in the hope of your finding the work
"thinkable for clear reasons" or "unthinkable for clear reasons."

Thank you,

M. Robert Showalter