Re: [HM] an indeterminacy of rational numbers representation
Udai Venedem (venedem@wanadoo.fr)
Wed, 21 Jul 1999 22:22:09 +0200
On july 20th 1999, in a response to Alexander Zenkin's question about the
representation of rational numbers, John Conway wrote: *The numbers came
before the notations*. How can we imagine numbers without representation,
even in a Platonic point of view, where *the nature of numbers pre-exists to
the nature of everything that has a nature* (as says Ibn 'Arabi)?
Not speaking of zero, or even one, remember how the shepherd "counts": he
"notes" lines on a stick. And for him, the lines (the notation) and their
coincidences are numbers.
Udai Venedem
venedem@wanadoo.fr
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/alta.mathematica/