The primary subject matter of mathematics is still the variation of quantity in time and space, but that also this primacy is partly of the nature of a “first approximation”, is reflected in the increasing importance of structures (not only of quantities) in the mathematics of the last 100 years. For example, a first approximation to a theory of a material situation involving three apples might be simply the number (constant quantity) 3. The idea of an abstract set of three elements is a somewhat more accurate theory. If one of the apples happens to be distinguished, for example, by being unlike others, we may consider the simple
Professor F. William Lawvere, Perugia Notes
Professor F. William Lawvere, Perugia Notes
Professor F. William Lawvere, Perugia Notes
The primary subject matter of mathematics is still the variation of quantity in time and space, but that also this primacy is partly of the nature of a “first approximation”, is reflected in the increasing importance of structures (not only of quantities) in the mathematics of the last 100 years. For example, a first approximation to a theory of a material situation involving three apples might be simply the number (constant quantity) 3. The idea of an abstract set of three elements is a somewhat more accurate theory. If one of the apples happens to be distinguished, for example, by being unlike others, we may consider the simple