Oh No wrote:

We don't say the Ptolemaic model of
the Solar System is still valid within its "domain of applicability",
do we?

Funnily enough, it is perfectly possible to construct an ellipse from an
infinite sequence of wheels within wheels. This is a generalisation of
the theory of Fourier transforms, so if we so desire, and wish to be
amusing, we are quite entitled to say exactly that.


Brilliant!

I think you have gone quite a ways in proving my contention that, as
with statistics, with mathematics one can "prove" whatever one wants to
prove, or "disprove" whatever one wants to disprove. The thing that
keeps science honest is that nature exists, that we can observe its
properties, that we can predict the results of future observations and
learn whether we are right or wrong. Our understanding of nature can
improve, so long as we are willing to accept nature's verdicts and
learn from them.

RLO

[Mod. note: unless it returns to astrophysics, this branch of the
thread is now closed -- mjh]