Mathematics can be highly abstract, even when it remains applicable to daily life. I want to show this with the mathematics behind logic puzzles, such as how to derive a conclusion using all of the following premisses:
- Babies are illogical.
- Nobody is despised who can manage a crocodile.
- Illogical persons are despised.
The example, from Terence Tao’s blog, is attributed to Lewis Carroll. By the first and third premisses, babies are despised; by the second premiss then, babies cannot manage crocodiles.
George Boole, The Laws of Thought (1854), Open Court, 1940
Polytropy 