FOM: Questions for Hersh

JSHIPMAN@bloomberg.net JSHIPMAN at bloomberg.net
Tue Jan 20 11:06:31 EST 1998


Are the following statements "mathematics" by your definition?  Why or why not?
 1) White wins in chess if you remove Black's Queen from the initial position.
 2) Mozart was a greater composer than Salieri
 3) Chopin's preludes are more difficult to play than Czerny's
 4) Chopin's preludes are more complex than Czerny's
 5) There exist 5 subsets of 3-dimensional Euclidean space R3 whose union is the
unit ball and which can be transformed by rigid motions to 5 subsets of R3 whose
union is two unit balls, one centered at (0,0,0) and one centered at (0,0,2)
 6) If there is a function defined on nonempty sets of reals such that f(X) is
always contained in X, then 5) is true.
 7) There is a nonconstructible set of real numbers.
 8) If there is a measurable cardinal then 7) is true.
I am sorry to quiz you in such a peremptory Harveyish fashion, but I think this
will clarify things for everybody very quickly.  Thanks!   -- Joe Shipman




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