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'''Zeno's Paradox'''<br /> | '''Zeno's Paradox'''<br /> | ||
| − | 706; Zeno's paradoxes are a set of paradoxes devised by Zeno of Elea to support Parmenides' doctrine that "all is one" and that contrary to the evidence of our senses, the belief in plurality and change is mistaken, and in particular that motion is nothing but an illusion. Several of Zeno's eight surviving paradoxes (preserved in Aristotle's ''Physics'' and Simplicius's commentary thereon) are essentially equivalent to one another; and most of them were regarded, even in ancient times, as very easy to refute. Zeno's arguments are perhaps the first examples of a method of proof called ''reductio ad absurdum'' also known as proof by contradiction. They are also credited as a source of the dialectic method used by Socrates. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradox From Wikipedia]; [http://www.shu.edu/projects/reals/numser/answers/zeno.html Still more...] | + | 706; Zeno's paradoxes are a set of paradoxes devised by Zeno of Elea to support Parmenides' doctrine that "all is one" and that contrary to the evidence of our senses, the belief in plurality and change is mistaken, and in particular that motion is nothing but an illusion. Several of Zeno's eight surviving paradoxes (preserved in Aristotle's ''Physics'' and Simplicius's commentary thereon) are essentially equivalent to one another; and most of them were regarded, even in ancient times, as very easy to refute. Zeno's arguments are perhaps the first examples of a method of proof called ''reductio ad absurdum'' also known as proof by contradiction. They are also credited as a source of the dialectic method used by Socrates. An example: |
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| + | :In the paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise, we imagine the Greek hero Achilles in a footrace with the plodding reptile. Because he is so fast a runner, Achilles graciously allows the tortoise a head start of a hundred feet. If we suppose that each racer starts running at some constant speed (one very fast and one very slow), then after some finite time, Achilles will have run a hundred feet, bringing him to the tortoise's starting point; during this time, the tortoise has "run" a (much shorter) distance, say one foot. It will then take Achilles some further period of time to run that distance, during which the tortoise will advance farther; and then another period of time to reach this third point, while the tortoise moves ahead. Thus, whenever Achilles reaches somewhere the tortoise has been, he still has farther to go. Therefore, Zeno says, swift Achilles can never overtake the tortoise. Thus, while common sense and common experience would hold that one runner can catch another, according to the above argument, he cannot; this is the paradox. | ||
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| + | [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradox From Wikipedia]; [http://www.shu.edu/projects/reals/numser/answers/zeno.html Still more...] | ||
'''Zero'''<br /> | '''Zero'''<br /> | ||
Latest revision as of 18:08, 24 December 2006
Y
"Yankee Doodle"
317; a country lout, the British derogatory name for
colonial New Englanders
Yin-Yang
533
Yochio Geni
635; river; Little, 635; Big, 658
Yoder Boys
636
Yoga
379
York, Duke of
336; See James II
Youghiogheny
Z
Zack
639
Zarpazo, Father
543; Spanish: "zarpazo" = "a strike or blow"; aka "Wolf of Jesus"; "Lord of the Zero" 544; "master of disguise" 545; 548; 636; Also, there was a notorious bandit named Zarpazo who was active during "la violencia," a series of internal wars in Colombia from 1946-1965.
Zeemanns
60
Zeno's Paradox
706; Zeno's paradoxes are a set of paradoxes devised by Zeno of Elea to support Parmenides' doctrine that "all is one" and that contrary to the evidence of our senses, the belief in plurality and change is mistaken, and in particular that motion is nothing but an illusion. Several of Zeno's eight surviving paradoxes (preserved in Aristotle's Physics and Simplicius's commentary thereon) are essentially equivalent to one another; and most of them were regarded, even in ancient times, as very easy to refute. Zeno's arguments are perhaps the first examples of a method of proof called reductio ad absurdum also known as proof by contradiction. They are also credited as a source of the dialectic method used by Socrates. An example:
- In the paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise, we imagine the Greek hero Achilles in a footrace with the plodding reptile. Because he is so fast a runner, Achilles graciously allows the tortoise a head start of a hundred feet. If we suppose that each racer starts running at some constant speed (one very fast and one very slow), then after some finite time, Achilles will have run a hundred feet, bringing him to the tortoise's starting point; during this time, the tortoise has "run" a (much shorter) distance, say one foot. It will then take Achilles some further period of time to run that distance, during which the tortoise will advance farther; and then another period of time to reach this third point, while the tortoise moves ahead. Thus, whenever Achilles reaches somewhere the tortoise has been, he still has farther to go. Therefore, Zeno says, swift Achilles can never overtake the tortoise. Thus, while common sense and common experience would hold that one runner can catch another, according to the above argument, he cannot; this is the paradox.
Zero
"Zero Meridian of the World" 211; "Lord of the Zero" 544; 664; "Domain of the Zero" 721; "Defective Zero" 721
Zhang, Dr.
142; of Thibet; escapes Jesuit College with Eliza, 530; Captain, 531; Feng-Shui analysis of Visto, 542; his red pearl, 550; Don Foppo de Pin-Heado, 552; "Chinese Tobacco" 588; See also Luo-Pan
Zsuzsa
See Szabo, Zsuzsa
Zouk
362
