> Thank you for the explanation. I've been to your page. Now, that I know
> *love* is Cohesive Math too, I enjoy it even better! :)
Cool!
> Our posts are in fact strings of bits (digits 0 or 1) so -- correct me if
> I am wrong -- according to CM, each post can be said to be a big number
> (or a HUGE one).
Yes, these posting _are_ all numbers. But a "number" in CM is a little
different than a number in normal math.
Numbers in normal math count things. Numbers in CM represent (act as
placeholders for) ideas. So you could use normal math to count the
number of words or sentences in a posting. You'd use Cohesive Math
to represent the ideas contained in that posting. I'll give a short
example of this in a minute.
(To nit-pick, the 0/1 bits are neither normal math nor CM. They're not
math at all. They're a code.)
> To one of the recent posts you replied:
> "Wade! I'm hurt! : )". How can numbers hurt?
Numbers can't hurt. But in CM, a number can represent the _idea_
"hurt".
I could assign "hurt" to the number 1, so I could rephrase
"Wade! I'm hurt!" as "Wade! I'm 1!" They're identical.
I could assign "I" to the number 2, so I could rephrase
"Wade! I'm hurt!" as "Wade! 2 1!"
In CM 1 + 2 = 3, and because "I" and "hurt" are interacting
(i.e. "I" applies to "hurt" and "hurt" applies to "I"),
I could rephrase "Wade! I'm hurt!" as "Wade! 3!"
I could assign "Wade" to the number 4, so I could rephrase
"Wade! I'm hurt!" as "4! 3!"
I know this looks a little strange, but remember: the numbers simply
act as placeholders for the ideas they've been assigned to.
In the above examples, 1, 2, and 4 are called Simple Numbers because
they represent stand alone ideas. 3 is called a Complex Number because
it combines multiple ideas (i.e. "I" and "hurt").
> I may not understand what Cohesive Math and Zero are about, but at least
> you let me read what you mean. Thank you for not saying that a chimp like
> me will never be able to understand it without a faithful jump to "Zero"
> (as so-called "level-3" people would).
No faith required, and you don't have to write me a check. All that's
needed is a little old-fashioned effort.
-- David Leeper dleeper@gte.net Homo Deus http://home1.gte.net/dleeper/index.htm 1 + 1 != 2 http://home1.gte.net/dleeper/CMath.html