Approximation and Idealization: Why the Difference Matters
نویسندگان
چکیده
It is proposed that we use the term “approximation” for inexact description of a target system and “idealization” for another system whose properties also provide an inexact description of the target system. Since systems generated by a limiting process can often have quite unexpected, even inconsistent properties, familiar limit processes used in statistical physics can fail to provide idealizations, but merely provide approximations.
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