Good morning,
I was thinking about this on a dog walk yesterday ( it makes the passage of time fly by) . How would I describe to someone for instance what the number 4 is without using other numbers or by applying something like addition or subtraction etc.
Obviously you cannot say it is the number between 3 and 5 as that uses other numbers to define it. Then I thought about drawing 4 lines. But then of course I am mentally counting them as a draw them, and know when to stop in the addition.
Next I thought of dice with their 1 to 6 in different patterns. 4 could be always that pattern of the 4 dots, which would negate any counting in the "description".
The problem with that technique is of course you can't extrapolate it for a general principle. Imagine pattern matching 12 556 987 2444 98763 as a number, or even worse, 0.0025.
At that point I thought I would give up, I am not a mathematician, and thought I would ask someone more experienced. So I joined this forum. Hello by the way.
Is there a way of describing a number simply without using maths and its constituents? I am guessing not but I might have missed something obvious.
Many thanks for any input, I am on a dog walk soon and will think about the twin paradox to make the time go faster.
