1 plus 1

[matthay]

is maths truly the only pure science

is one plus one always two?

[scotstone]

I'm not sure that mathematics is a science. All the recognised sciences involve the discovery of phenomena that exist whereas mathematics has to be invented.

[fo3nix]

Maths isn't a science, it's a language.

And one plus one can be whatever you want it to be. Most people say it's two, though.

[mibn2cweus]

Could be 10 in the language of binary.

[Loosehead]

Maths is essentially the universal truth totally consistant within itself. All Mathematical principals can be derived from addition and however complex they get can be checked against first principles. Other sciences, especially Physics make use of maths but maths itself is not a science. It is more akin to a language. As mibn points out we tend to default to base 10 however there are an infinite number of bases that could be used.

Remember, there are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't!

[chakka35]

It's not like you to cheat, Mibn2cweus. One plus one makes two, whether that two is expressed as 2 in ternary and above, or as 10 in binary. Or perhaps you were just taking the mick.

[Loosehead]

No chakka in binary it is not known as 2 it is usually refered to as 2 because we automatically convert to base 10, it is not known as "Ten" because that is the name we give to the first case of "absent symbol" in base 10. In all other bases 10 would be known as "One Zero".

[China Doll]

There is another strand of though I've heard that maths is the language of the phillosopher too.

Also when you reduce maths to it's absolute basics I guess there is something in that in the sense that it could be an abstract notion. Although I still think the same could be said for science too.

I definately like the idea of it being a language.

[chakka35]

No,no. Loosehead. Two is two - a definite number meaning duality - regardless of how it is represented on paper or in electronic circuits. Of course you wouldn't call 10 in binary 'Ten' because it doesn't represent ten (the number of toes on my two feet); it represents two (the number of eyes in my head). Ten in binary is 1010. As you probably know, 10 represents two in binary, three in ternary, and so on up to eight in octal, nine in nonal and ten in decimal. (And onwards of course - twelve in duodecimal, for example.)
If you start changing the names of numbers themselves, just because their symbols change, arithmetic will be in chaos.

[mibn2cweus]

chakka35, Perhaps we should say "one plus one always equals two" but (as noted) could be other things as well, ten not being one of them unless its a pair of . . .
quincunx <"?