Finally I come to a book that says, "Mathematics is used in science
in many ways. We will give you an example from astronomy, which is the
science of stars." I turn the page, and it says, "Red stars have a
temperature of four thousand degrees, yellow stars have a temperature of
five thousand degrees . . ." -- so far, so good. It continues: "Green
stars have a temperature of seven thousand degrees, blue stars have a
temperature of ten thousand degrees, and violet stars have a temperature
of . . . (some big number)." There are no green or violet stars, but
the figures for the others are roughly correct. It's vaguely right --
but already, trouble! That's the way everything was: Everything was
written by somebody who didn't know what the hell he was talking about,
so it was a little bit wrong, always! And how we are going to teach well
by using books written by people who don't quite understand what
they're talking about, I cannot understand. I don't know why, but the
books are lousy; UNIVERSALLY LOUSY!
Contents
Why stars are not green
