Understanding Mathematics

Understanding mechanics is nothing to do with mathematics, it is the reality of what is actually happening and why it is happening?

OR

This post is really nothing to do with mechanics because mechanics is about reality?

In fact I will attempt to explain the roll of mathematics in relation to reality.

There is a series of pet food advertisements on British television, in which the animals (cats or dogs) state  that “you should read the instructions yourself because I cannot read”. However, earlier adverts had a situation in which the animals had to say that they could not count, but these adverts were quickly dropped. I would imagine that the company received thousands of letters pointing out that animals can count.  This was my immediate reaction on first seeing the advert. Sad really, that the company knew so little about animals.

Natural arithmetic is addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Many animals have the inborn ability to carry out simple examples of these arithmetical functions.

Arithmetic

Addition and subtraction.

Addition and subtraction are fairly simple for animals, they check their young every few minutes and know exactly how many they should have (addition) and how many are missing (subtraction).   Our last dog, Mandy, when receiving ‘treats’ , would stay still until we had scattered the correct number of them, and then collect them together. If we did not throw the correct number she would nudge our legs to tell us that we had got it wrong. If we threw one more when we were two short she would nudge our legs again to tell us that we had still got it wrong.

Multiplication and division.

Division is ‘fractions’ . Obviously animals don’t calculate fractions that give an answer of less than one because there is no necessity for it in their lives. However, in some respects they can calculate fractions. Offer a dog the choice between a full shin-bone and half a shin-bone and it will select the full shin-bone. Which is the greater; one shin-bone or one shin-bone divided by two? [Which is the greater; 1 or 1/2 ?].

Now let us consider a far more difficult question. If we cut the shin-bone into three equal lengths A, B and C, which one would the dog select? The dog must work out which is the greater,  A, B or C. [Which is the greater 1/3, 1/3 or 1/3?]

We know from experience that the dog will not select B, it will select A or C. It is obvious that the human arithmetical notation is of no use to us in this case, but the dog would be able to make the correct selection. Does this mean that the dog is more intelligent than we are? No, it just means that the dog has more information than can be supplied by the human arithmetical notations. The dog works it out by logic.

Mathematics is a man-made tool which can be very useful. It is not a science. Like any tool it will do certain things very well.  and like any tool, if incorrectly used, can create disasters.

Although claimed by the physicists to be their specialised subject, (it should be, most physicists rely on a Mathematics Degree to get a job.), most of them only have knowledge of a small number of  the 1,000,s of formulae in everyday use. Most of the worlds formula were created by engineers. {Odd really, Einstein is famous for one equation that he got a Nobel prize for, (even though it was wrong), whereas I have created about 25-30 new equations over the years, all which have proved to be right. I once produced a new formula for working out escalation costs on Oil platforms. This caused great consternation to the oil companies and they spent many months attempting to discredit it. Obviously they failed because they had to pay in accordance with my new formula. This was quite a complex formula. On another occasion, determining  the cost of hiring ships, boats and rigs and their staff and operatives operating in the North Sea was quite a complex problem which even the suppliers had difficulty with.

In this instance I produced a simple formula that produced more accurate figures and only took about 30 minutes to  work out the total payments due each month. Obviously I do not hate mathematics, I just hate the misuse of mathematics, especially by physicists.

“Firstly, the abandonment of the ideal of a mechanical explanation of everything has eliminated a great deal of idle hypotheses. The properties of the fundamental entities of physics are now stated in the form of mathematical equations, instead of being ‘explained’ by a hypothetical mechanism.” From ” The Philosophy of Physical Science”, by Sir Arthur Eddington. This is the ‘Eddington’ usually quoted by physicists when they are asked awkward questions.

Let us consider the first sentence. Modern physics is now almost entirely composed of ‘idle hypotheses’. Quarks, time dilation, rubber sheet universes, black holes, time travel, nuclear fusion, Hadrons, and now the God particle, are just a few of the ‘idle hypotheses’ that occupy the minds of the physicists.

Logic and Measurement.

Although the word ‘logic’ is commonly used when referring to mathematics, logic actually refers to reasoning whereas mathematics is simply a set of rules designed to make things simpler. (Yes I know, if you don’t like mathematics, then the last thing you would agree with is that it makes things simpler, but it does make things easier if you do like mathematics.)

Anyone who has suffered from bureaucracy will probably agree that rules are not always logical. The same problem exists with mathematics.

Let us say that we have 7 Leopards and 10 camels. Now torque is measured in pounds feet and is obtained (mathematically) by multiplying pounds and feet. We should be able to multiply leopards and camels to arrive at 70 cameleopards. (yes there is such a thing, its also called a giraffe).

Obviously we know from common sense and reasoning that this is a silly idea.

We can however multiply leopards and camels to arrive at 70 animals, but this is no more logical. This is because you cannot multiply real objects by real objects.

You can add camels and leopards to get a total of animals.

A lot more to come on this but not yet.

Author; Brian Williams

Web Site Problems

Visual/html Problem now fixed on my WordPress.

After months of aggravation, the problem of the edit box suddenly changing to html mode only, making it almost impossible to carry out updating a post, as been sorted, I hope. The total disappearance of the edit box on some posts, also appears to be fixed.

I finally found that by deactivating the SEO plug-in the problem appears to be solved. I don’t know if this will cause me to have other problems, but if it does I will update the information.

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Formatting Problem.

If you look at the master page also the Home page, the formatting at the top part is messy. I have redone this from the beginning about 6 times, but the same thing happens each time. Any ideas????

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MALICIOUS ATTACK ON THIS WEB SITE

THERE IS AN ATTACK ON THIS WEB SITE. SOMEONE IS COPYING MY POSTS ONTO THEIR OWN SITE AND SPAMMING IT AROUND THE WORLD.

THE FAKE WEB SITE IS APPARENTLY BEING LOADED WITH ADVERTISING FOR WHICH THEY ARE OBVIOUSLY BEING PAID. SO FAR ALL THE ADVERTS SEEM TO BE VIA GOOGLE, BUT MAY BE EXTENDED TO OTHERS.

IF YOU RECEIVE ONE OF THESE PLEASE ADVISE ME AND ALSO ADVISE GOOGLE OR ANY OF THE ADVERTISERS. GOOGLE HAVE BEEN TOLD BY ME OF THESE ATTACKS.

GET THE URL NUMBER AND ANY OTHER DATA THAT YOU CAN.

YOUR OWN SITE COULD BE TARGETED NEXT.

The Advertisers must know who they are paying.

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THERE ARE NO ADVERTS ON MY WEBSITE APART FROM THAT RELATING TO MY BOOK.

THERE ARE NO VIDEOs, AND THERE IS UNLIKELY TO BE  MANY SPELLING MISTAKES, ITEMS REFERRED TO RELATING TO FAKE SITES.

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THE ONLY TIME I SEND UNREQUESTED COPIES OF MY POSTS,  IT IS TO PUBLIC BODIES SUCH AS COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

Prams – Design Gone Mad?

I was about 4 years old when I first learned to push a pram properly. I am not talking about a push-chair, those were easy to handle, even at 18 months old. I mean the old carriage built prams with the big wheels that normally ended up on trolleys and go-carts. After I had struggled for a few days I finally passed my test and my mother allowed me to transport my baby sister without having her guiding hand on the pram handle. After a week I could set the parking brake and just about put the hood up if it was raining. This was not easy because to me this pram was huge, I could only see my sister by standing on tip toe.

69 years on I see adults struggling with pushchairs, (yes, pushchairs), that have been made using antiquated supermarket trolleys as the design standard. They are unwieldy, overweight and worse than supermarket trolleys for steering. They are frustrating to parents, take up too much space (at home and in the car), are overpriced and worst of all, are dangerous. Trapped fingers, broken nails, and like supermarket trolleys, are not interested in where you want to go.

60 years ago push chairs went exactly where you wanted them to go, they were light, they were cheap, they folded up neatly and they were safe.

Why?

Apart from the fact that that there is ‘Fashion’ to blame, the main problem is that nowadays knowledge and experience are ignored in favour of gimmicks. Every possible design of the pram was tried out in the 18th and 19th centuries. The carriage pram and the basic design of the push-chair were confirmed as the optimum for easy handling by young women (and 18 month olds).

The most important basic design detail was that ‘no steering aids’ gave the best steering. Sounds silly but its true.

Four fixed wheels gives a stable platform but also ensures that the pram travels in a straight line. Try pushing a modern push-chair in a straight line. As much energy is wasted in keeping to a straight line as is used in pushing the pram. (Just like the supermarket trolley)

A slight pressure on the pram handle and the front wheels lift off the floor. The pram can now rotate freely on two wheels and will ‘turn on a sixpence’. If you push a pram with 4 fixed wheels along a 400 yard pavement you will probably have to make the occasional adjustment to it. Forgotten your purse? Slight pressure on the handle, swivel round, release pressure, and your on your way back.

Four fixed wheels gives you total and easy control.

I have little doubt that the modern push-chair was copied off the supermarket trolley. Unfortunately the supermarket trolley is designed to carry heavy loads and therefore cannot use four fixed wheels. Some Do-It-Yourself stores have adopted the principle of the original pram in having two main load bearing wheels to enable easy steering. Unfortunately, these are normally fitted with castor-wheels at both ends, so you are left with a trolley that is easy to turn but won’t travel in a straight line.

Note that supermarket trolleys are based on factory trolleys and trucks which have to carry heavy loads. However, factory floors are normally flat and level. Although within the supermarket the floors are flat and level, the parking areas are not. In our local supermarket about 25% of the parking area is seriously sloped and sometimes it can take 4 or 5 attempts to get the trolley near to the car.

Author; Brian Williams