September 10 – Happy Birthday, Charles Sanders Peirce

nPosted on September 10, 2018

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nSo, today’s famous birthday pointed out that certain kinds of logic could be carried out by something as simple as an electrical switching circuit. 

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nAnd eventually people did just that as they created digital computers.

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nHe began the formal branch of semiotics, which is the study of meaning-making. And he founded pragmatism, which is the philosophy of considering practical effects of ideas in a changing universe.

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nBorn on this date in 1839, in Massachusetts in the U.S., Charles Sanders Peirce has a LOT of fields listed in his Wikipedia bio: logic, mathematics, statistics, philosophy, metrology (the study of measurement), chemistry, experimental psychology, economics, linguistics (the study of languages), and the history of science.

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nW.O.W.!

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nPeirce’s dad was a professor at Harvard University – a math and astronomy professor – and Peirce graduated with honors from Harvard himself. However, he had a painful physical disorder that probably were the causes of his outbursts of temper and his difficulties with others, and because of these problems, Peirce had a lot of difficulty maintaining jobs and earning enough money for a happy and comfortable life.

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nSo, despite the fact he is considered a really important and original thinker, many of Peirce’s writings remain unpublished even now.

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nLet’s celebrate Peirce with some logic fun! Here is a simple lesson on logic – and you can see why logic and mathematics are linked. Here are some printable logic puzzles, and here are a few videos about logical fallacies and critical thinking. 

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nMy Answer to Viral Math Puzzle:

nI got 2 + 3 + 3 + 11 = 19.  The 2 is from the clock, which shows the time to be 2:00. The 3 and 3 are from the two bunches of bananas, with three bananas in each bunch. The 11 was from the six-sided hexagon with the five-sided pentagon inside.

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Are there any other valid answers? (I think I could justify an answer of 22.) Remember, another “correct” answer must be able to fit with all of the parts of the puzzle.

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nAlso on this date:

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• nSeptember holidays

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• nSeptember birthdays

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• nHistorical anniversaries in September

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• nOctober holidays

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• nOctober birthdays

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• nHistorical anniversaries in October

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