Time Change and Imaginary Numbers

ISBN-13: 9783836499545 / Angielski / Miękka / 2008 / 316 str.

Witold Wiszniewski

Opis

This book is concerned mostly with time, change and imaginary numbers. The starting point is an argument for the theory of dynamic time. Its central roadblock - McTaggarts proof of the unreality of time - is disarmed by the claim that McTaggart introduces far-reaching an additional temporal perspective which can even explain the relativistic time-like dimension. The narration comes closer to logic as it becomes clear that the progress cannot be made unless a contradiction is used. The challenge then is to prevent slipping into dialethism. Finally, mathematics becomes the center of attention with the highlight of the proof of i2 = -1. The work draws heavily on physics and philosophy, going back to Aristotles and more recent Kant. In the middle of this company there is mathematician Hamilton who rests his theory of imaginary and complex numbers on the intuition of time. Apart from the normal moments of time, Hamilton postulates the existence of secondary moments, which are crucial in this theory. The question is: what are the secondary moments of time? Anyone interested in the nature of time and imaginary numbers might find this work interesting.

O autorze

Wiszniewski Witold Witold R. Wiszniewski, PhD, lives in Australia and works as a researcher in the Semiconductor Industry.