Mathematics and Physics

There is a story about how a certain well-known rnathernatician would begin his sophornore course in logic. "Logic is the science of laws of thought," he would declairn.

"Now Irnust tell you what science is, what law is, and what thought is. But I will not explain what 'of' rneans."On undertaking the task of writing the book "Mathernaticsand Physics", the author realized that its size would hardlybe sufficient to atternpt to explain what the "and" rneans inthe title. These two sciences, which were once a single branch on the tree of knowledge, have by our time becornerather separate.

One of the reasons for this is that in this century they have both engaged in introspection and internaldeveloprnent, i.e., they have constructed their own rnodels with their own tools. Physicists were disturbed by theinterrelation between thought and reality, while rnatherna-ticians were disturbed by the interrelation between thoughtand forrnulas. Both of these relations turned out to be rnorecornplicated than had previously been thought, and the rnodels,self-portraits, and self-irnages of the two disciplines haveturned out to be very dissirnilar. As a result, frorn theirearliest student days rnathernaticians and physicists aretaught to think differently.