Mathematics and Physics
In Mathematics, the absent referent can be seen by many symbols:
- A numeral or symbol for no quantity, such as "zero", "0", or "nil",
- From set theory, the empty set, or "{}", which refers to a set with no members.
- Any symbol which is undefined, such as the number represented by "n/0" (any number divided by zero).
- Any of a number of paradoxical objects, such as the "list of all lists" from Russell's Paradox.
Physicists have named many hypothetical objects, such as certain subatomic particles, which are predicted by mathematical models but have never been observed.
Read more about this topic: Absent Referent
Famous quotes containing the words mathematics and/or physics:
“Mathematics alone make us feel the limits of our intelligence. For we can always suppose in the case of an experiment that it is inexplicable because we don’t happen to have all the data. In mathematics we have all the data ... and yet we don’t understand. We always come back to the contemplation of our human wretchedness. What force is in relation to our will, the impenetrable opacity of mathematics is in relation to our intelligence.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)
“Mathematics should be mixed not only with physics but with ethics.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)