Do The Maths

Taking a rest from writing my blogs, I thought that a glance at other blogs might be rewarding, even instructive.

I spend too much time on my own work, I ought to divide my time more equally.
My choice of blogger was entirely random. I was surprised to see that my chosen blogger’s thoughts did not add up. I tried to subtract my personal feelings, but this seemed to multiply the problems.

As a physicist, I had always looked on mathematics as simply a tool, not worth more than a fraction of my time. But perhaps I was being irrational. It’s difficult to function under pressure. I should try harder to integrate, I should not differentiate between bloggers.
But, all things being equal, the numbers were against me. I gave up and looked for another subject for my blog.

We have just seen leaders around the world celebrating Armistice Day. It is not clear why this day of infamy should be celebrated. November 11 marks the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany. It let Germany off with just a warning and left an unrepentant Germany free to start preparing for World War II.

The world, and certainly the Jewish people, would have been better off if a defeated Germany had been broken up and the pieces added to the surrounding nations. Sadly, the same mistake was made after World War II.

Start one World War, OK it happens, start two and the penny should drop – this is not a country that one would want as a next-door neighbour.

As we physicists say, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. But this did not apply to Germany. Someone did not do the maths.

I am tempted to use the Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory as an example, but can’t find a way to work it in. Perhaps my mathematical readers can help.