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...
| Publicado en: | Synthese Vol. 191; no. 3; pp. 459 - 480 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Springer Nature
Feb2014
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| Sumario: | 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. |
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