It's interesting that usually we rely on math to show that we can solve for properties of physical systems, but here we've done exactly the reverse by appealing to physics to show that a nice mathematical property exists.
keenan
@mdsavage Yes indeed. Unsurprisingly, that's the way physicists often do it! Also unsurprisingly, the mathematicians are typically not satisfied with this kind of argument. :-)
It's interesting that usually we rely on math to show that we can solve for properties of physical systems, but here we've done exactly the reverse by appealing to physics to show that a nice mathematical property exists.
@mdsavage Yes indeed. Unsurprisingly, that's the way physicists often do it! Also unsurprisingly, the mathematicians are typically not satisfied with this kind of argument. :-)