Multitudes, Magnitudes and Numbers
Numbers are fundamental to our understanding of the world. The true nature of numbers, however, is rarely understood when numbers are used to represent counts and magnitudes.
In this lecture, the speaker will address the true nature of numbers as understood by mathematics so that one can answer questions like “what does the number 0 really mean?”. While we have no problem explaining “2 apples” and “2 meters”, it is not easy to explain the meaning of “2” without any denomination or units. Once one gets to understand the nature of fundamental objects such as 0 and 1, most of mathematics can be easily built on that. This will also clarify confusions arising from using different scales. To see why that matters, try to think about the statement “If 0°C = 32°F then 0°C + 0°C = 64°F?” and assess whether it is correct.
In the end, the speaker will also give a concrete meaning to negative numbers.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Mukhtar Ullah is Professor and Head of Department of Electrical Engineering at FAST National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences.