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> Mathematics has no side effects.

Dijkstra and Scholten would beg to differ. Mathematics is the science of describing patterns, and mutable state falls well within its purview.




> Mathematics is the science of describing patterns ...

Ah, but mathematics doesn't require the scientific method.


Of course you’re correct in one sense. However, science is an old word and like many others in the English language it has multiple senses. In the context I used it in, it means a systematic body of knowledge. I’m sure you’d agree mathematics meets that criterion. Other examples include ethics and aesthetics.


Absolutely. State Machines are easily modelled in pure math. TLA+ is but one example of this.




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