Re: In an RDBMS, what does "Data" mean?

"Paul" <paul_at_test.com> wrote in message news:7E1wc.11238$NK4.1467178_at_stones.force9.net...
> Anthony W. Youngman wrote:
> > The whole point of axioms is that YOU DON'T WANT THEM! The aim of
> > logicians, mathematicians, and scientists is always to simplify things.
> > If you can derive an axiom from other axioms, it ceases to be an axiom
> > and becomes a theorem, and makes your fundamental theory simpler.
>
> OK, I agree with all of that, I don't see how it contradicts what I said
> though.

Logic perspective is not the only interpretation. Propositions like

<name='Hrundi V. Bakshi', age = 35>

are too miniscule to be elevated to the status of axioms.

As people generously spiced this thread with analogies, I'll invoke one too. The set of tuples is the state in some space. The operations transform one state into another one. The theory doesn't really care about details of the particular state, but tells us some general properties of state transformations.

In Newton Mechanics the state of the system is the set of coordinates and impulses of the system particles. Hamiltonian operator is applied to initial state transforms it into another state. The initial or intermedite state of the system is rarely the focus of the theory. It is the proiperties of Hamiltonian operator that are of interest.

P.S. Anthony, admittedly your reasoning is not without intelligence. What are you doing in the Pick camp? Received on Fri Jun 04 2004 - 20:12:18 CEST