Optimisation and mathematical explanation: doing the Lévy Walk.

The indispensability argument seeks to establish the existence of mathematical objects. The success of the indispensability argument turns on finding cases of genuine extra-mathematical explanation (the explanation of physical facts by mathematical facts). In this paper, I identify a new case of ext...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Synthese Vol. 191; no. 3; pp. 459 - 480
Main Author:	Baron, Sam
Format:	Article
Published:	Springer Nature Feb2014
Subjects:	Mathematical optimization Mathematical analysis Predatory aquatic animals Nominalism Platonists
Online Access:	View this record in EBSCOhost

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Summary:	The indispensability argument seeks to establish the existence of mathematical objects. The success of the indispensability argument turns on finding cases of genuine extra-mathematical explanation (the explanation of physical facts by mathematical facts). In this paper, I identify a new case of extra-mathematical explanation, involving the search patterns of fully-aquatic marine predators. I go on to use this case to predict the prevalence of extra-mathematical explanation in science.