Quarter Life Crisis

The world according to Sven-S. Porst

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239 words

501
747
911
600
500
750
610
601
486
110
112
007
...

It’s quite funny, sometimes a simple number is more than a number. It actually means something to people. And possibly something else to others. Do all numbers between 1 and 1000 mean something?

This reminds me of a problem that frequently comes up in maths. When trying to write down something you have to use letters for your variables. And most letters have certain meanings associated with them. You might use x, y, z for coordinates or x and ξ for real numbers and z and ζ for complex numbers. t often denotes real numbers as well, while n, m are usually integers. On the other hand, f, g are commonly used for functions, while α, β, γ can be angles in simple geometry but γ is often used for paths as well, while α or η may be 1-forms – and ω is a 2-form if you’re into that kind of thing.

And the list could go on. At the end of the day you realise that the same letters may be used several times by different conventions and the alphabet(s) start looking much to small once you run into an area where different notational conventions overlap.

Of course you can use any letter for anything, but sticking to the conventions makes understanding what’s written much easier and texts that don’t can be a royal pain…

January 21, 2006, 0:02

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