Mathematics and Physics
In Mathematics, the absent referent can be seen by many symbols:
- A numeral or symbol for no quantity, such as "zero", "0", or "nil",
- From set theory, the empty set, or "{}", which refers to a set with no members.
- Any symbol which is undefined, such as the number represented by "n/0" (any number divided by zero).
- Any of a number of paradoxical objects, such as the "list of all lists" from Russell's Paradox.
Physicists have named many hypothetical objects, such as certain subatomic particles, which are predicted by mathematical models but have never been observed.
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