Re: Date's First Great Blunder

From: Anthony W. Youngman <wol_at_thewolery.demon.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 18:58:23 +0100
Message-ID: <GR8m$OF$YrhAFwCX_at_thewolery.demon.co.uk>


In message <vNCdnUAgw_V5kRndRVn-uA_at_comcast.com>, Laconic2 <laconic2_at_comcast.net> writes
>Dawn,
>
>I'd like to suggest that you go back to two original sources.
>
>The first is Codd's original work, proposing the relational model. A Google
>search on "Codd Data Model" brings up a reprint of the classic paper, among
>lots of others.
>
>The second is James Martin, "Computer Database Organization". I haven't
>looked at Martin in almost twenty years, so I don't know what you'll find
>there. But I would expect that you would find his treatment more convincing
>than I find most of the stuff I associate with the word "marketing."
>
>Was Galileo's comparison of the Copernican and the Ptolemaic systems,
>"marketing"?
>

Oh the irony of it! :-)

Do you know what was the STRONGEST argument against the Copernican system? That it was just as big a mathematical mess as the Ptolemaic system it sought to replace!

Ptolemy believed that the Earth should be the centre of the Universe, because it was the most important object in it, and he came up with an absolute nightmare of a mathematical system to prove/explain it.

Copernicus believed the Sun should be at the centre of the Universe, because it was the largest known object, but his mathematical system to prove/explain it was JUST AS BIG a nightmare as Ptolemy's.

And of course, now that we've got Einstein, we know both of them were wrong :-) We can pick anywhere we like to be the centre, because it all depends on the observer :-)

Cheers,
Wol

-- 
Anthony W. Youngman - wol at thewolery dot demon dot co dot uk
HEX wondered how much he should tell the Wizards. He felt it would not be a
good idea to burden them with too much input. Hex always thought of his reports
as Lies-to-People.
The Science of Discworld : (c) Terry Pratchett 1999
Received on Wed Apr 21 2004 - 19:58:23 CEST

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