Piotr Gasiorowski wrote:

> 18-06-03 23:34, Miguel Carrasquer wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 18 Jun 2003 10:21:25 -0400, "H.M. Hubey"
> > <hubeyh@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> > >Ok, I see what you mean now. When comparing forms without looking into
> > >history one can easily make mistakes. The thing is that I think the
> > errors
> > >are symmetrically distributed (e.g. like the Gaussian) so that given
> > enough
> > >data they will cancel out.
> >
> > Oh my god.
> >
> >
> > How to reconstruct a Brontosaurus, the Hubey way:
> >
> > - Take as many bones as you can lay your hands on (doesn't matter from
> > which animal or which part of it)
> >
> > - Randomly glue them together.
> >
> > Since a Brontosaurus has Gaussian distribution (in the immortal words of
> > Anne Elk (Miss): "All brontosauruses are thin at one end, much
> thicker in
> > the middle and then thin again at the far end"), given enough bones, the
> > errors will cancel out.
> >
> > Next week's recipe: Tuna salad à la Sumérienne.
>
> And here's the surest way to drive your car straight ahead: close your
> eyes and let go of the wheel. Since the steering mechanism prefers
> neither direction, the distribution of possible courses is symmetrical
> and any errors will cancel out. Do try it out, Hubey!
>
> Piotr
>

I guess you guys are asking for a discussion of how science is done, or
should be done,
or are you asking what mathematics is about?

--
Mark Hubey
hubeyh@...
http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey