this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2023
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Whenever people find out I have a math degree, they tell me how bad they are at math. They seem almost proud about it. Nobody ever brags about being bad at English. They also assume I’m really good at arithmetic or counting, a la Rain Man or something. I am not.
I get the same. Writing up my thesis currently and people definitely ask me about my research just to be nice.
I start out by saying how on a clock, if you add 12 hours to the time then, ignoring the AM/PM part, you get the same time out. So you’re essentially adding a rule to the arithmetic of the clock that adding 12 is identical to adding 0.
I then say I work with number systems that have some manner of clock rule to them. I like to see how we can build up big examples of spaces with this logic from some smallest building bricks.
I think that’s just about the most coherent way of describing my research area. I just get blank stares and “it’s all Greek to me.”
What's 1+1?
If 1>0 and 1<2
Then 1+1>0+0 and 1+1<2+2
So we know that 0<1+1<4
Thus, 1+1 has to be 1,2, or 3.
More cannot be surmised with the given information.
I like how this quietly but accurately calculates the result of 2+2, but somehow cannot handle 1+1.