Timeline for Examples of theorems misapplied to non-mathematical contexts
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
52 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jul 7, 2021 at 5:56 | history | protected | CommunityBot | ||
| Apr 27, 2021 at 5:02 | review | Close votes | |||
| Apr 27, 2021 at 11:39 | |||||
| Aug 13, 2020 at 10:33 | answer | added | Noam Zeilberger | timeline score: 0 | |
| Aug 13, 2020 at 8:18 | answer | added | Kostya_I | timeline score: 5 | |
| Jan 20, 2019 at 1:50 | review | Close votes | |||
| Jan 20, 2019 at 15:25 | |||||
| Feb 7, 2018 at 2:11 | answer | added | Gerry Myerson | timeline score: 7 | |
| Dec 31, 2017 at 0:42 | review | Close votes | |||
| Dec 31, 2017 at 9:39 | |||||
| Dec 11, 2017 at 4:48 | review | Close votes | |||
| Dec 11, 2017 at 9:59 | |||||
| Jul 22, 2016 at 11:04 | answer | added | Eckhard | timeline score: 3 | |
| Apr 27, 2016 at 13:14 | history | edited | Gerry Myerson |
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| Apr 27, 2016 at 8:41 | answer | added | Kostya_I | timeline score: 30 | |
| Jun 26, 2014 at 1:19 | answer | added | Gerry Myerson | timeline score: 11 | |
| Jun 25, 2014 at 20:19 | answer | added | Per Alexandersson | timeline score: 7 | |
| Jun 24, 2014 at 15:23 | comment | added | fedja | @BenjaminDickman Looks OK if you restrict it to a fixed span of 5 years within which your conditions are stable. My favorite example is Pascal' wager. First, it has been created by a mathematician (and not a second rate one!), second, the minimax decision strategy is pretty widespread and makes sense, third, there seems to be no one who didn't try some form of it to convince an opponent (yeah, if you drive at 70 mph in this blizzard and don't crash, we'll come in time for the dinner, but think of what happens if you do!), forth, even Wikipedia fails to explain what exactly is wrong with it. | |
| Jun 24, 2014 at 14:25 | answer | added | I. J. Kennedy | timeline score: 16 | |
| Jun 12, 2014 at 5:20 | answer | added | Amritanshu Prasad | timeline score: 15 | |
| Jun 11, 2014 at 19:10 | comment | added | Benjamin Dickman | Assume average life expectancy and use Secretary Problem to "guess" the best moment (or day, or whatever) of one's life. | |
| Jun 11, 2014 at 19:07 | answer | added | Michael Renardy | timeline score: 4 | |
| Feb 24, 2012 at 3:11 | comment | added | William | Great thread. I think the fundamental fallacies behind this phenomenon are misinterpretation of terms, and thinking that real-world situations are part of a formal system. Approximations are often effectively used, but to conclude that your result applies you have to demonstrate with HIGH confidence that your approximation is sufficiently accurate. | |
| Feb 24, 2012 at 2:17 | answer | added | I. J. Kennedy | timeline score: 33 | |
| Jan 7, 2012 at 12:32 | answer | added | plm | timeline score: 5 | |
| Jun 1, 2011 at 21:45 | answer | added | Gil Kalai | timeline score: 23 | |
| Jun 1, 2011 at 6:46 | answer | added | Alon Amit | timeline score: 8 | |
| Jun 1, 2011 at 6:31 | answer | added | Alon Amit | timeline score: 13 | |
| Jun 1, 2011 at 6:20 | answer | added | Roland Bacher | timeline score: 10 | |
| May 31, 2011 at 22:50 | answer | added | gowers | timeline score: 15 | |
| May 31, 2011 at 20:54 | answer | added | AFK | timeline score: 46 | |
| May 31, 2011 at 19:09 | answer | added | Gyorgy Sereny | timeline score: 13 | |
| Apr 13, 2011 at 20:14 | answer | added | Fedor Petrov | timeline score: 6 | |
| Apr 13, 2011 at 1:13 | answer | added | Kevin O'Bryant | timeline score: 142 | |
| Apr 13, 2011 at 0:45 | comment | added | F Zaldivar | Perhaps it was my being ignorant of algebraic topology as a kid, but splitting my sandwich with my brother did not seem to be fair! | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 23:42 | answer | added | Gerry Myerson | timeline score: 28 | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 22:58 | answer | added | Daniel Parry | timeline score: 23 | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 22:56 | answer | added | Frank Thorne | timeline score: 8 | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 22:02 | comment | added | Mark Bennet | Gödel's work, together with that of Church and Turing and others, does show, however, that much philosophy and theology (even stuff which is supposed to be respectable) misconceives the relationship between truth, provability, possibility, rationality, knowledge and reality. | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 20:39 | answer | added | Willie Wong | timeline score: 84 | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 20:08 | answer | added | Daniel Moskovich | timeline score: 33 | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 19:32 | answer | added | Charles | timeline score: 19 | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 18:16 | answer | added | Steve Huntsman | timeline score: 11 | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 17:49 | answer | added | Todd Trimble | timeline score: 11 | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 17:42 | answer | added | Ethan Fetaya | timeline score: 17 | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 17:32 | answer | added | Douglas Zare | timeline score: 46 | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 17:00 | answer | added | Robert Israel | timeline score: 35 | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 15:43 | answer | added | Chuck | timeline score: 99 | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 15:25 | comment | added | Sean Tilson | I feel like most people misapply Godel's incompleteness theorem. | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 15:19 | comment | added | godelian | Rather than Gödel's incompleteness theorem applied to theological arguments, there is Gödel's ontological proof of the existence of God (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gödel's_ontological_proof), which is more likely to be misapplied... | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 15:17 | comment | added | JSE | This is purely exploratory, so use the most expansive standards of anything you think might fit. | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 15:17 | comment | added | S. Carnahan♦ | Do you have standards for attribution, e.g., the argument should be published somewhere, or is word-of-mouth fair game? | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 15:14 | comment | added | Someone | Does "applying the Banach-Tarski paradox to an orange" qualify? | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 15:01 | comment | added | JSE | Either is fine! | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 14:59 | comment | added | Scott McKuen | Do you want examples where they use the theorem correctly, but the real-world context violates one of the assumptions (e.g., ignoring that the Earth is not thermodynamically a closed system), or that they just misunderstand the theorem itself? | |
| Apr 12, 2011 at 14:48 | history | asked | JSE | CC BY-SA 3.0 |