Coldness
 Sutra Leaf. Mongolia 18th century, Tibetan script, gold ink and mineral pigments on paper 165 x 65 mm.

Any mild perception of heat that happens in routine human activity is called a safe thermal sensation. Safe thermal sensations are described using words like warm, cool, balmy, tepid, chilly, lukewarm, etc. They are similar to the sensation of touching a living human body. We use a swirly old marking that looks like a wisp of steam as an icon for safe thermal sensations. You can click on icons to come back to a page like this for easy reference.

By the third hypothesis, the reference experience for a safe thermal sensation is touching steam. So to make a binary description of a safe thermal sensation, compare it to touching steam. Report the result using one of the following algebraic statements. If the two experiences are not comparable, then say that the sensation is not a safe thermal sensation and express this as

$\delta_{\tau}=0$

If the sensation is like touching steam, then say that it is steamy. Express this as

$\delta_{\tau}=-1$

If the sensation is not like touching steam, then say that it is cool and that

$\delta_{\tau}=+1$

If it is both like and not-like touching steam, then say that it is a composite sensation and that

$-1 \le \delta_{\tau} \le 1$

The number $\delta_{\tau}$ is called the coldness.

 Summary
 Adjective Definition Coldness $\delta_{\tau} \equiv \begin{cases} +1 &\sf{\text{if a sensation is cool }} \\ -1 &\sf{\text{if a sensation is steamy }} \end{cases}$ 2-6
page revision: 147, last edited: 28 Sep 2017 18:52
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