Re: The Meaning of Abstract

From: Jesse F. Hughes (jesse_at_phiwumbda.org)
Date: 06/02/04 

Date: Wed, 02 Jun 2004 00:09:31 +0200

jesse@phiwumbda.org (Jesse F. Hughes) writes:

> curt@kcwc.com (Curt Welch) writes:
>
>>
>> Of course it is. Is there not a large set of CDs that all have
>> different data values stored on them, yet they would all be
>> abstractly represented by the same mp3 file?
>
> Most of us distinguish between quotienting by an equivalence relation
> and abstracting.
>
> To repeat the example I posted a moment ago: fix a signature S and
> consider the functor which takes S-algebras to their underlying set.
> Just like your example, for each set, there are a slew of S-algebras
> which are mapped to that set. I would not think that this forgetful
> functor is an example of abstracting.

Stupid!

A simpler example.

Take the map N -> N taking 0 to 0 and n+1 to n. This is a lossy
compression scheme. Would you *really* want to call it an
abstraction? 

-- 
Jesse F. Hughes
"Even I, who know beyond doubt that my death will be caused by a silly
girl, will not hesitate when that girl passes by."  -- Merlin, as
reported by John Steinbeck.

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