14 Mar
1996
14 Mar
'96
9:30 p.m.
From: Peter Freyd <pjf@saul.cis.upenn.edu> If we stick to those parts of mathematics as described by the US National Science Foundation as "core mathematics" then I will stand by my statement. A semantics is unneeded. Without looking, I'm certain that they include calculus. I'm not sure what is meant by "calculus doesn't need a semantics." My impression was that the evolution of analysis was a beautiful interplay of definition and theorem that went on for centuries, from Newton (if not even earlier) right into the end of this century! Do you see a clear distinction between "definition" and "semantics"? Vaughan Pratt