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1. Christian Lawson-Perfect (christianp@mathstodon.xyz)'s status on Tuesday, 04-Apr-2023 19:41:18 JST Christian Lawson-Perfect

   A challenge for the coming week:

   Take a photo of a number, then take photos of all of its factors. Most factors wins.

   They have to be numbers you find, nothing that you made yourself.

   Winner gets... a round of applause, and maybe something mathstodon-themed.

   Tag entries with #FactorFindingMission

   • Disinformation Purveyor :verified_think: (thatguyoverthere@shitposter.club)'s status on Tuesday, 04-Apr-2023 19:41:06 JST Disinformation Purveyor :verified_think:

     in reply to

     • Hyolobrika
     • Colin the Mathmo
     @Hyolobrika @christianp @ColinTheMathmo numbers are imaginary. Numerals are not numbers.
   • hyolobrika@berserker.town's status on Tuesday, 04-Apr-2023 19:41:07 JST Hyolobrika

     in reply to

     • Colin the Mathmo

     @christianp
     What does it mean to take a photo of a number?
     If you find n instances of an object, and take a picture of them, have you taken a picture of n?
     What if you take a picture of something with a physical quantity equal to n <some unit>? Which quantities? Which units?
     What about a written representation of a number?
     @ColinTheMathmo

   • hyolobrika@berserker.town's status on Tuesday, 04-Apr-2023 20:12:04 JST Hyolobrika

     in reply to

     • Disinformation Purveyor :verified_think:
     • Colin the Mathmo

     @thatguyoverthere
     I was just thinking before I saw your post:
     Counting is actually more complicated than it seems.
     How do you count the islands in an archipelago? It depends on what *counts* as an island and what is just a rock in the sea.
     How do you count the branches of a tree? It depends on what *counts* as a branch and what is merely a twig or a bump on a twig.
     (This is probably where we get the polysemy in "count" meaning "to reckon" or "to matter" from #Linguistics #NaturalLanguage #Semantics #Semiotics )
     This lead me to realise that numbers, like discrete objects on which concept they are based, are an illusion/product of our minds.
     @christianp @ColinTheMathmo

     Disinformation Purveyor :verified_think: likes this.
   • Disinformation Purveyor :verified_think: (thatguyoverthere@shitposter.club)'s status on Tuesday, 04-Apr-2023 20:17:38 JST Disinformation Purveyor :verified_think:

     in reply to

     • Hyolobrika
     • Colin the Mathmo
     @Hyolobrika @christianp @ColinTheMathmo yeah it's an abstract way of handling quantity with a degree of specificity. It's interesting because we handle the merger of imaginary concepts with physical reality almost seamlessly. It isn't until you start philosophizing about it that it becomes apparent that numbers are not real. What does that say for the rest of reality?