Dan Scanlan wrote: > > On Oct 20, 2006, at 9:30 AM, Charles Brown wrote: > > > ...Whoever 'first' spoke of > > mammals had noticed that rabbits are foxes and chipmunks are > > elephants and > > they are all hyenas (at least from one aspect -- and that is all a > > metaphor > > ever does, it asserts that A is B _in respect to Q_). > > > > Carrol > > > > > > ^^^^^ > > CB: Or a is to b as x is to y: a:b::x:y > > > > Algebra is metaphoric; metaphors are algebraic : 1/2 = 2/4 > > I'm inclined to see algebra as the opposite of metaphor. 1/2 and 2/4 > are exactly the same quantity, just as the equals sign states. > Nothing metaphorical about it, to my mind.
Exactly correct. An identity is NOT a comparison. Of course mathematics, like any other realm of human knowledge or fancy can be used metaphorically, but then it ceases to be mathematical. Most general statements of probability are not mathematical but uses of mathematics for metaphorical purposes. The English poet Charles Williams tried to build a semi-epic poem around a mathematical metaphor, using algebra as a metaphor for Islam and trigonometry as a metaphor for Christianity. I think the comparison involved the doctrine of incarnation. I never read it but a couple reviews made a lot of fun of it. Carrol
