Lets add two numbers, 3 and 5.
And if we change the order:
We get the same result. Adding three apples to five apples is the same as adding five apples to three - apples do not disappear and we get eight of them in both cases.
Specifically, we look at rigid objects for which some of their properties (shape, size) are close enough to each other while others (position, velocity) may differ and decree that they all agree with a conceptual category for which the rules of arithmetic apply. You can't accurately tally up the mass-energies or exactly define the boundaries of the matter in question or solve division problems in your conceptual model (see the Ship of Theseus), so you impose a reduction of the universe upon your perception of it, holding that the subtle aesthetic variances in each "object" are meaningless and can be reduced to a matter of accounting.
And if we change the order:
We get the same result. Adding three apples to five apples is the same as adding five apples to three - apples do not disappear and we get eight of them in both cases.
Specifically, we look at rigid objects for which some of their properties (shape, size) are close enough to each other while others (position, velocity) may differ and decree that they all agree with a conceptual category for which the rules of arithmetic apply. You can't accurately tally up the mass-energies or exactly define the boundaries of the matter in question or solve division problems in your conceptual model (see the Ship of Theseus), so you impose a reduction of the universe upon your perception of it, holding that the subtle aesthetic variances in each "object" are meaningless and can be reduced to a matter of accounting.
