[FOM] pathology

[W.Taylor at math.canterbury.ac.nz]

Quoting Martin Davis <martin at eipye.com>:

> Everywhere continuous nowhere differentiable functions were once regarded
> as pathological. At least since fractals have entered mathematical
> discourse, they are commonplace.
>
> I suspect that the concept of "pathological" is social rather than
> mathematical.

Perhaps, but today's attitude toward "pathological" seems to be that it
is complementary to "explicit", whatever that might mean in the context,
judging from replies on this list.

- Bill Taylor


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