Frases de cálculo - página 2

line, the so-called “continuum”—which is precisely equivalent to the set of all real numbers, which includes “irrational” numbers like pi and the square root of 2 that can be expressed only as an infinite series of decimals—are not countable by any possible scheme: they constitute a larger infinity than that of the counting numbers.

For Thurston, as for most creative mathematicians, mathematics is a sensual and carnal experience that is located upstream from language. Logical formalism is at the heart of the apparatus that makes this experience possible. Math books may be unreadable, but we nevertheless need them. They’re a device that we rely on in our quest for the true math

So if the visible universe were the extent of physical reality, physical reality would not even remotely contain the resources required to factorize such a large number. Who did factorize it, then? How, and where, was the computation performed?