Gavan P.L. Watson
I am not a mathematician by any stretch of any imagination, so I don’t know if this an example of pop mathematics or not but I find this interesting even so.
Now, I’m not sure what those deeply entrenched in the various mathematical disciplines think about this (but they seem to be a bit off anyway) but I’ve just read about a computer science professor in the UK that has solved the equation 0/0 by proposing a new number: nullity. Nullity lies off the linear number line (-∞…-3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3… ∞). Just the idea of a number off the linear line strikes me as brilliant.
The STS portion of my brain starts firing at the idea of a new number. It’s a little mind-boggling, but did this number always exist? Was it just “created”? These kinds of ideas are precisely why I love academia: it takes creativity and thinking beyond the established rules to think of something like this.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
2 Responses to What being creative gets you: nullity
Leave a Reply
Additional comments powered byBackType
Content © Gavan P.L. Watson, Some Rights Reserved.
I read that this morning too, and don’t really get it. Just can’t seem to wrap my mind around it. I sent the article to a friend of mine who’s a PhD candidate in physics, and he says it sounds contrived and didn’t get it either.
Still think its cool, though.
Yeah, I’m sure it’s already been written off by the mathies: “What?…He just?…He can’t make up a new number…”
I like the gumption, though.