It is theoretically possible to accurately describe the motions of celestial
bodies using epicycles, though one might need infinite epicycles, and
epicycles would themselves need to be on epicycles. If you think there’s
something wrong with the math, it won’t be in its inability to describe the
motion of celestial bodies.
But I don’t think there’s anything “wrong with the math”—I even said precisely that:
A believer in epicycles would likely have thought that it must have
been correct because it gave mathematically correct answers. And it
actually did . Epicycles actually did precisely calculate the positions of
the stars and planets (not absolutely perfectly, but in principle the theory
could have been adjusted to give perfectly precise results). If the
mathematics was right, how could it be wrong?
.
While ‘accurate’ and ‘precise’ are used as synonyms in ordinary
language, please never use them that way when talking technically
about the meanings of words.
I was trying to talk about how people actually use them, and one of the things I was suggesting is that people do actually tend to treat them as synonymous.
Similarly, please never use ‘begs the question’ or any form of it
when not referring to the logical fallacy.
Isn’t this a little picky? The way I used ‘begs the question’, in the sense of ‘raises the question’, is fairly common usage. Language is constantly evolving and if you wanted to claim that people only should use terms and phrases in line with their original meanings you’d have throw away most language.
Language is always evolving, but more recently, and especially currently, evolving usages are still pretty sloppy. If you want to be less wrong you need to use language more precisely. That is, don’t use new usages when an older usage is more precise or accurate, unless there is a real need, especially don’t use technical terms in sloppy common usages.
But I don’t think there’s anything “wrong with the math”—I even said precisely that:
I was trying to talk about how people actually use them, and one of the things I was suggesting is that people do actually tend to treat them as synonymous.
Isn’t this a little picky? The way I used ‘begs the question’, in the sense of ‘raises the question’, is fairly common usage. Language is constantly evolving and if you wanted to claim that people only should use terms and phrases in line with their original meanings you’d have throw away most language.
Language is always evolving, but more recently, and especially currently, evolving usages are still pretty sloppy. If you want to be less wrong you need to use language more precisely. That is, don’t use new usages when an older usage is more precise or accurate, unless there is a real need, especially don’t use technical terms in sloppy common usages.