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Leibniz, Einstein, and China
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The 17th-century German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Leibniz, inventor of the binary code, claimed that the yin-yang-based hexagrams used in the Book of Changes represent the world’s first binary code. The Chinese used different symbols, but Leibniz argued the underlying principle was the same.
In the 1920s, the Chinese binary system reappeared when quantum physicists pioneer Niels Bohr saw parallels between the wave-particle duality and the worldview expressed by the binary yin-yang system. Bohr included references to the yin and yang in his scientific papers.
The link between these seemingly different stories is discrete mathematics, the cousin of continuous mathematics. Digital computer science and quantum mechanics use discrete mathematics. Einstein’s Relativity Theory, like Newtonian physics, relies on continuous mathematics.
The Chinese did not develop science in the strict sense of the word, but their yin-yang worldview can put Western science in a new perspective. The reverse is also true. Western science can shed new light on China’s ancient worldview.
- ISBN-109077787445
- ISBN-13978-9077787441
- Publication dateMay 22, 2021
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions5 x 0.19 x 8 inches
- Print length74 pages
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Product details
- Publisher : Olive Press (May 22, 2021)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 74 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9077787445
- ISBN-13 : 978-9077787441
- Item Weight : 4.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5 x 0.19 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,546,132 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #554 in Discrete Mathematics (Books)
- #1,542 in Mathematics History
- #7,732 in Mathematics (Books)
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