> >Ok, I remember my calculus teacher would always go into these obscure
> >philosophical tangents on how the top mathemeticians would spend half of
> >their lives trying to prove that 1 actually equals 1. I mean, seriously=
,
> >I'd be interested in hearing the theory (or a summary), but I would stil=
l
> >prolly maintain that any other concious entity, given enough time, would
> >evolve a method of counting objects, and this method would indubitably
> >be a numbering system, and quite probably very similar, if not identical=
,
> >to ours.
> >
>=20
> This is getting boring.
>=20
> Traun, it would be IDENTICAL to ours, SO LONG AS the axioms-observations
> INDEED are the same everywhere in the universe. (Obviously, no one has a
> clue as to whether thay are "really" the same everywhere in the universe,
> because it would take a long time to visit everywhere and check, and it i=
s
> an uninteresting 'purely philosophocal' (so to speak) question.)
*yawn* _This_ is getting boring ;>. What if the aliens had nine fingers,=
=20
wouldn't their system of mathematics (though not necessarily the=20
FUNDAMENTAL AXIOMS of SPACE-TIME-PHYSICS) be very different? =20
>=20
> Your faith, Traun, in the sameness of numbers for us and all aliens, has =
an
> identity with, your faith in those observations being the same everywhere
> inside our space-time.
>=20
>=20
> Title: Number Theory and Its History (Dover Classics of
> Science and Mathematics)
> Author: Ore, O-/ystein
> Publisher: Dover Pubns
> ISBN: 0486656209
> Price U.S.: $9.95
I don't have $9.95!!! + TAX!!
>=20
> Title: Number Theory (Dover Books on Advanced
> Mathematics)
> Author: Andrews, George
> Publisher: Dover Pubns
> Price U.S.: $6.95
>=20
>=20
> Author: Long, Calvin T.
> Title: Elementary introduction to number theory [by] Calvin
> T. Long.
> Published: Boston, Heath [1965]
>=20
> Author: Wright, Harry N. (Harry Noble), b. 1881.
> Title: First course in theory of numbers, by Harry N. Wright
>=20
> Author: Shanks, Daniel, 1917-
> Title: Solved and unsolved problems in number theory.
> Published: Washington, Spartan Books, 1962-
>=20
> Author: Laurent, H. (Hermann), 1841-1908.
> Title: Sur les principes fondamentaux de la th=E2eorie des
> nombres et de la g=E2eom=E2etrie, par H. Laurent.
> Published: [=E2Evreux, C. H=E2erissey] 1902.
>=20
> Author: Bowden, Joseph, 1869-
> Title: Elements of the theory of integers
>=20
> Author: Bowden, Joseph, 1869-
> Title: Special topics in theoretical arithmetic, by Joseph
> Bowden ...
> Published: Garden City, N.Y., J. Bowden, 1936.
>=20
>=20
>=20
> . .
> w w w . t w e b . c o m =20
>=20