"Strong typing vs. strong testing"

[Steve Schafer]

On Wed, 13 Oct 2010 06:05:27 -0500, rpw3 at rpw3.org (Rob Warnock) wrote:

>Why should it?!? If you look way under the covers, I suspect that even
>the "c^2" in "E = mc^2" is a "collected" term in the above sense [that is,
>if I recall my classes in introductory special relativity correctly].

In special relativistic terms, -c^2 is basically a unit-of-measurement
conversion factor between two values that represent the same underlying
"thing," analogous to the way that 25.4 is a conversion factor between
inches and millimetres. Whether you consider this equivalence to be an
intrinsic characteristic of the physical universe or merely a
consequence of the mathematics we use to describe the universe is a
philosophical question. But the fact that such an equivalence exists at
all suggests that the notion of "squaring time" as an analog of squaring
distance isn't really all that farfetched. (However, like the previous
poster, I've never been able to make any sense of it.)

-Steve Schafer