An amateur’s outlook on computation and mathematics

Antinomies on the landscape

by Brian Hayes

Published 1 October 2007

False Creek in Vancouver, from near Granville Island (which is not an island)

From the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Travel Guide to the Pacific Northwest, page 218:

In spite of its name, False Creek is not a creek at all….

Responses from readers:

  • A comment from Barry Cipra, 1 October 2007 at 1:23 pm

    If it has two places where boats can tie up, then False Creek contains a paradox….

  • A comment from seb, 4 October 2007 at 9:33 am

    I thought we knew that every sentence that contains the word false in it is false.

Please note: The bit-player website is no longer equipped to accept and publish comments from readers, but the author is still eager to hear from you. Send comments, criticism, compliments, or corrections to brian@bit-player.org.

Tags for this article: mathematics, quote.

Publication history

First publication: 1 October 2007

Converted to Eleventy framework: 22 April 2025

More to read...

Kenken-Friendly Numbers

Kenken is the funny-page puzzle that allows the number nerds among us to strut their stuff. And it’s not limited to the integers 1 through 6 or the operations +, –, ×, ÷.

The Mind Wanders

With my mind out of gear I free-associate: Mrs. Robinson, Joe Dimaggio, plastics, butterflies. What would it take to build a computational model of this process?

Does Having Prime Neighbors Make You More Composite?

Between the prime numbers 59 and 61 lies 60, which has an extraordinary abundance of divisors. Is that just a coincidence?

We Gather Together…

At the Thanksgiving table I thought I heard someone ask, “Please pass the Covid.”