Trick and Truth: The Natural Effectiveness of Math in Fundamental Science by Alma Ionescu

Dear Alma,

A beautiful essay in all ways, original, insightful and with perfect English and logic, well argued.

I feel I should reproduce the phrases that I felt hit the target most perfectly;

'We can't expect math to work on its own'

'You know you're missing something when there's just too much you can't explain.'

'We've carefully chosen bits of math that resemble the phenomena we wanted to study'

'In pure math, any inconsistency is shot dead on sight.'

'Math requires us to be very careful when shaping a theory because the slightest false step will bring down the whole edifice that we've carefully built by creating a contradiction.'

'when we lose the correct track we have no way to find it again without more new insights.'

No time now, or even need, for detailed questions, time for scoring. i hope you may have time to read mine, which identifies a specific and important case of loosing the correct track but accepting illogicality by being satisfied that maths is enough. I'd love to hear your views.

Very well done, and thank you.

Peter

Alma Ionescu wrote on Apr. 18, 2015 @ 15:08 GMT stub

Dear En,

This is nice and to the point. Your writing displays an interesting personal stance and I'm sure you enjoyed the exercise. I think that you're right when you're saying, in the third paragraph, that Wigner's expression should not be taken literally as it was more a metaphorical way of encouraging new lines of thought and maybe a feeling of delight in the face of the best known parts of the natural world.

Warm regards,

Alma

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Author En Passant replied on Apr. 21, 2015 @ 07:32 GMT stub

Dear Alma,

I actually have many contacts with Romanians. They are extremely good at programming, and (in fact) BitDefender (the best antivirus program) is programmed by Romanians.

Don't worry, the NSA can "get in" anyway. But their interests are not what we worry about (banking, etc.).

En

Hi Alma--

Your essay was a joy to read. There is a wonderful lyrical quality to your writing style. I loved your sayings, especially "You know you're missing something when there's just too much you can't explain". I shall incorporate that one into my daily lexicon.

Quick question, admittedly somewhat off-point: Which philosopher has influenced you the most?

Very best regards and luck in the contest,

Bill.

Hi Alma--

I admire your preferences for thinkers and philosophers. If you haven't already, I urge to read Jim Holt's book, "Why does the world exist"?. It's a wonderful book. Furthermore, Holt devotes an entire section to Weinberg (chapter 9). Reading Weinberg's views on philosophy, the multiverse, etc., was fascinating.

Best regards,

Bill.

Alma,

You're a winner. I do not exaggerate when I say that in my opinion, your essay ranks near Wigner's own, in its breadth of knowledge and depth of insight.

A couple of confessions I have to make: I have followed and enjoyed your intelligent commentary in other forums, so I knew I would get to your essay eventually. And the other confession is that I checked on the internet to verify how young you are; I would never have believed it from your mature postings. I do hope your circumstances permit you to go on to higher academic pursuits -- it's obvious that you have the "right stuff."

I didn't know the story of von Neumann and the engine. I do recall another one, though, of his lightning-fast calculating skill -- mathematicians like to try and fool each other with problems that seem complicated, but can be made simple with "tricks". One of them concerns two trains approaching each other, with a fly flying back and forth between the engines -- how far does the fly travel before getting squashed when the trains collide? One can get a quick answer by knowing the short cut of averaging -- otherwise, calculating the series by brute force is long and tedious. It is said that when the problem was put to von Neumann, he gave the solution almost immediately. Asked if he knew the short cut, he looked puzzled and replied, "What could be easier than summing the infinite series?" The Wolfram site has an article on the two-train problem.

Highest marks, and good luck!

Tom

Dear Alma,

Your essay is extremely insightful and directly addresses this forum topic. I really enjoyed the development of your conclusions, in particular "mathematical physics is only as good as physical insight." My essay makes the exact same point, and discusses how changing the physical insight subsequently effects the mathematical abstraction, and how changing mathematical representation affects physical explanation. Your examples are excellent and very pertinent, in fact exciting. In particular, your juxtaposition of the Langlands program with Godel is brilliant. The Taniyama-Shimura-Weil conjecture is an incredible connection of different mathematical areas, and I absolutely agree that an equivalent to the Langlands program applies to physics; indeed it is a cornerstone in physical explanation. Schroedinger is perhaps one immediate example, though there are many more, and I'm familiar with some university programs specifically designed to connect different areas of physics for this very reason. As I mentioned, I liked how you juxtaposed this with your discussion of Gödel, and how you distinguished mathematical physics when countering the consequences of incompleteness. My essay too shows how what was considered a limitation can actually be expanded when attempting to physically model undecidability, and thus consider the physical requirements resulting from incompleteness. Finally, your appreciation of the humanity and lives of some of the greats, coupled with your optimism for the future is quite noble. This essay is a great contribution and I give it a 10.

Please check out my essay as well, and we have many things in common and our ideas very well support each other.

Thanks,

Steve Sax

Dear Alma

nicely written essay. I agree on many points, and especially about complexity, about which you say that "That our knowledge manifests gaps around emergent phenomena seems to be an indication that we lack some insight of the mathematical description itself, not just of what happens physically." And I agree that that this limits our knowledge in fields as biology, along with phys. and math themselves.

My best wishes for your essay and for you

Mauro

Dear Alma,

I suspected as much. My own formal education was cut short by life circumstances, and it's made me an advocate for universally free lifetime education. I don't see how democracy in the world can survive without it.

I don't know how it is in Europe -- in the States, however, the disparity between privileged members of society with full access to educational institutions and financial resources, and the rest of the country (the vast majority) has reached a critical point. The class division has never been greater in my long lifetime.

If there's any justice left in the world, you'll get the chance to fulfill your potential. It would be shame for a person of your fine intellect to be denied. And don't make age the issue!

Thanks for the tip on von Neumann.

All best,

Tom

Hi Alma,

I wanted to let you know that I thought your essay was wonderful and that I am glad you seem to have done well in the contest.

All the best,

Rick Searle

Hi Alma,

Just to let you know that I replied to your excellent post on my page.

Best,

Tom