Math Mistakes

CSGnet Archive CSG2016
41

[Martin Taylor 2016.09.16.11.37]

[From Rick Marken (2016.09.16.0815)]

When you first posted this same mistake back in July, I thought

“That’s an easy mistake to make, but it’s easily corrected and soon
forgotten.” Indeed, Alex corrected it within the hour. And yet, here
you are two months later, after several people have pointed out in a
variety of different ways just why it is a mistake, and you
are still asserting that your private opinion carries more weight
than mathematics or logic. I wonder why?

Enough on this topic. I'm going to follow Roger, and think about

what really may lie behind the power law.

Martin
···

Martin Taylor (2016.09.15.23.25)

            MT: It could be if you wanted it to be, but it

could be anything else as well.

RM: It’s a datum, not a choice;-)

                          MT: So there is, but that V isn't

necessarily the same V. It’s any variable
AT ALL.

                        RM: No, V is the variable computed

according to equation 8.

                                    log (V) = 1/3 * log(V^3/R) +

1/3*log(R) (2)

42

[From Rick Marken (2016.09.16.0855)]

···

Martin Taylor (2016.09.16.11.37)–

MT: Enough on this topic. I'm going to follow Roger, and think about

what really may lie behind the power law.

RM: I think that’s a super idea!

Best

Rick

–

Richard S. Marken

“The childhood of the human race is far from over. We
have a long way to go before most people will understand that what they do for
others is just as important to their well-being as what they do for
themselves.” – William T. Powers

43

[Chad Green (2016.09.16.1242)]

“Proposition 4: The greater the power, the less the rationality

Kant said, ‘The possession of power unavoidably spoils the free use of reason.’ On the basis of the Aalborg study, we may expand on Kant by observing that the
possession of more power appears to spoil reason even more.

One of the privileges of power, and an integral part of its rationality, is the freedom to define reality. The greater the power, the greater the freedom in this
respect, and the less need for power to understand how reality is ‘really’ constructed. The absence of rational arguments and factual documentation in support of certain actions may be more important indicators of power than arguments and documentation produced.
Power knows that which Nietzsche calls ‘the doctrine of Hamlet,’ that is, the fact that often ‘[k]nowledge kills action; action requires the veils of illusion.’ A party’s unwillingness to present rational argument or documentation may quite simply indicate
its freedom to act, and its freedom to define reality.â€? – Bent Flyvbjerg (Rationality and Power)

Source:
http://flyvbjerg.plan.aau.dk/ratpowexcerpt.php

Best,

Chad

···

Chad T. Green, PMP

Research Office

Loudoun County Public Schools

21000 Education Court

Ashburn, VA 20148

Voice: 571-252-1486

Fax: 571-252-1575

“We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn.� - Mary Catherine Bateson

From: Martin Taylor [mailto:mmt-csg@mmtaylor.net]
Sent: Friday, September 16, 2016 11:48 AM
To: csgnet@lists.illinois.edu
Subject: Re: Math Mistakes

[Martin Taylor 2016.09.16.11.37]

[From Rick Marken (2016.09.16.0815)]

Martin Taylor (2016.09.15.23.25)

log (V) = 1/3 * log(V^3/R) + 1/3*log(R) (2)

MT: So there is, but that V isn’t necessarily the same V. It’s any variable AT ALL.

RM: No, V is the variable computed according to equation 8.

MT: It could be if you wanted it to be, but it could be anything else as well.

RM: It’s a datum, not a choice;-)

When you first posted this same mistake back in July, I thought “That’s an easy mistake to make, but it’s easily corrected and soon forgotten.” Indeed, Alex corrected it within the hour. And yet, here you are
two months later, after several people have pointed out in a variety of different ways just why it
is a mistake, and you are still asserting that your private opinion carries more weight than mathematics or logic. I wonder why?

Enough on this topic. I’m going to follow Roger, and think about what really may lie behind the power law.

Martin