In September I competed for the IFSC Paraclimbing Worldcup in Edinburgh (UK). The two qualification routes went well, but in the finals I fell from the third grip (the grip I’m sitting on in the picture). But I had a great time!
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Do Mathematicians Discover or Create?
In my previous blogpost (What Is Mathematics?) we saw that platonists believe that what mathematicians do is discovering things about a world which exist independently of themselves. Intuitionists, on the other hand, believe that mathematicians do not discover but create mathematical theorems*. For many mathematicians Platonism is the obvious choice here. Doesn’t nature just show us how mathematics works? We need only look at triangles drawn in the sand to see that Pythagoras’ theorem is true, don’t we? Isn’t that discovery? Let’s take a look at an example of a mathematical theorem to see whether Platonism is really that obvious.
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Paraclimbing in Imst
Last month* I participated in a paraclimbing competition in Imst, Austria. The wall which we climbed was situated between the beautiful Tiroler mountains.
In the movie below you can see my attempt at climbing the second of the six routes I had to climb. As you can see the number of grips available is large, so that wasn’t a problem. But you’ll also see that there’s quite a bit of overhang, which becomes a problem after a while (when it becomes more difficult to stretch my left arm and unstretch my left leg)
Any expert climbers out there with useful tips?!
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What Is Mathematics?
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PhD Dissertation
I have defended my PhD dissertation on 13/07/2017 in Utrecht. Below you can find the documents which have kept me busy for several years:
To find out what this is all about, look at p.41 of my book! - Preface (English)
- Samenvatting (Nederlands)
- Gearfetting (Frysk)
- Complete Dissertation
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Mouthguard
I grind my teeth. Even when I’m not thinking about very difficult things – such as what present to give my mother for her birthday – I scrape the teeth of my lower jaw with my upper teeth. The dentist kindly but urgently advised me to stop grinding my teeth, because the teeth on my lower jaw have already been worn down to miniature versions of their upper comrades. But that’s easier said than done – because I’m spastic.
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Numbers in Wonderland
After following the White Rabbit down the rabbit-hole and meeting all kinds of strange and wondrous animals, Alice finds herself at the mad tea party. Her three companions – the Hatter, the Dormouse and the March Hare – keep asking Alice difficult questions, which make her feel very annoyed.
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