The Boundary Between Mathematics and Physics
Alasdair Urquhart · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2008
This chapter adopts the point of view that mathematical models in physics are mathematical constructs in their own right, often only loosely related to the phenomena they are designed to model. This is illustrated by the example of mean field models in statistical physics. It also emphasizes the difficulty in understanding these mathematical constructs because of the unrigorous methods employed by physicists in investigating their own constructions.