Why is money a number

[sushi]

why is money a number

What does number mean? What does the number measure?
what does it quantify?

It may quanitify value, but value is impossible to measure and does not have a mathematical qunaitity.

what happens if dollars have number on it, if every dollar have no number on it, what does it mean then? Lets just say 1 dollar is 1 ticket, 1000 dollars is still 1 ticket, rather than 100o tickets, what then?

 

[Words]

Philosophical economics, nice. I'll be interpreting and answering liberally.

why is money a number

Money is a representation of collectively defined resource made legitimate by a govt. Resource is collectively valued objects. Value, collective value, shifts depending on environment and conditions. For instance, level of scarcity shifts value. No scarcity, no value.

I think money is a number because of the need for communication. There is no communication between traders and therefore no trade if value is not, in some manner, quantified. Even Bartering requires a form of approximation of level of value.

What does number mean? What does the number measure?
what does it quantify?

It may quanitify value, but value is impossible to measure and does not have a mathematical qunaitity.

Why not? Everything can be quantified. Its just a lot more complicated with dynamic and relative concepts such as value. Value is quantified relativistically. Relative to value-agents(people, firms, society) and relative to environmental/contextual conditions.

what happens if dollars have number on it, if every dollar have no number on it, what does it mean then? Lets just say 1 dollar is 1 ticket, 1000 dollars is still 1 ticket, rather than 100o tickets, what then?

the fiat dollar would become meaningless? You won't be able to trade with it because it doesn't account for the different levels of value that the market demands. Also, if the government simply decides this(if they can), I'd imagine a lot of people with thousand dollar bills would complain. You would also still be able to quantify things. What if you had 2 tickets? Its just that a few 1 dollar bills would be worth more than a single thousand dollar bill.

I think you're confused about the idea of "value" here. it is a very complicated thing.

 

[pernoctator]

It may quanitify value, but value is impossible to measure and does not have a mathematical qunaitity.

Mathematics doesn't need values. Everything can be algebraic equations. You just need a group of people to agree on the relationship between values. If you agree to do job A for 2 hours if someone will do job B for 1 hour then 2a = b. The next week they agree that you can do a half hour of job C instead, so now you have decided 0.5c = b, therefore c = 4a and you know that you should expect no less than 4 hours of job A for 1 hour of C even though this was never explicitly agreed on. The more we decide about the relations between things, the more we can calculate. By then saying that a is "500 dollars" we haven't changed any of the relationships, we just provided a way to "solve" all the equations so we can refer to them more easily as single values.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

Mathematics doesn't need values. Everything can be algebraic equations. You just need a group of people to agree on the relationship between values. If you agree to do job A for 2 hours if someone will do job B for 1 hour then 2a = b. The next week they agree that you can do a half hour of job C instead, so now you have decided 0.5c = b, therefore c = 4a and you know that you should expect no less than 4 hours of job A for 1 hour of C even though this was never explicitly agreed on. The more we decide about the relations between things, the more we can calculate. By then saying that a is "500 dollars" we haven't changed any of the relationships, we just provided a way to "solve" all the equations so we can refer to them more easily as single values.

All nice and clear, how often do you get the chance of setting the variables? Many times there are almost identical choices or identical relations and you have nothing to do but agree out of necessity.
How often are you aware of the market average? Many services rely on the overestimation etc. Is it a part of a natural selection mechanism to favour individuals that are able to get the best deals?

 

[pernoctator]

In practice we can't take everything already decided into consideration when setting a price. I'm only making the point that something doesn't need to be an independently measurable quantity in order to be treated mathematically.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

In practice we can't take everything already decided into consideration when setting a price. I'm only making the point that something doesn't need to be an independently measurable quantity in order to be treated mathematically.

Yes, if that is the case then I have misunderstood, or taken it too far.

I think you're confused about the idea of "value" here. it is a very complicated thing.

What is so complicated about value besides the fact that it is subjective?

 

[Jennywocky]

why is money a number

Because they no longer wanted it to be chickenz.

 

[Goku]

Money should not be a number, it should be a True/False value. You either have it (true) or you don't (false). Money being a number makes absolutely no sense.

 

[sushi]

Philosophical economics, nice. I'll be interpreting and answering liberally.



Money is a representation of collectively defined resource made legitimate by a govt. Resource is collectively valued objects. Value, collective value, shifts depending on environment and conditions. For instance, level of scarcity shifts value. No scarcity, no value.

I think money is a number because of the need for communication. There is no communication between traders and therefore no trade if value is not, in some manner, quantified. Even Bartering requires a form of approximation of level of value.



Why not? Everything can be quantified. Its just a lot more complicated with dynamic and relative concepts such as value. Value is quantified relativistically. Relative to value-agents(people, firms, society) and relative to environmental/contextual conditions.



the fiat dollar would become meaningless? You won't be able to trade with it because it doesn't account for the different levels of value that the market demands. Also, if the government simply decides this(if they can), I'd imagine a lot of people with thousand dollar bills would complain. You would also still be able to quantify things. What if you had 2 tickets? Its just that a few 1 dollar bills would be worth more than a single thousand dollar bill.

I think you're confused about the idea of "value" here. it is a very complicated thing.

I think money is a way to reccord what every person chooses to buy , and how many buyers. I am still not sure if I am right though, thats why i am open to perspecitives.

your arguement of value may be valid, but imagine if there are only two person on this person, 1 buyer and i seller, the high prices of a good would suddnely lose all the value. So there is a human variable involved in those numbers. like buyers.

 

[Words]

I think money is a way to reccord what every person chooses to buy , and how many buyers. I am still not sure if I am right though, thats why i am open to perspecitives.

It can be. I think I can find a way to use money as a way to record demand for product and number of buyers. Things can have many functions. But the way humans understand money is simply that it is "valuable." Historically, it wasn't like this. Money only represented value. But it's so ingrained to a lot of people that they behave under that direct assumption of money=resource.

your arguement of value may be valid, but imagine if there are only two person on this person, 1 buyer and i seller, the high prices of a good would suddnely lose all the value. So there is a human variable involved in those numbers. like buyers.

not sure what you're talking about here. That's called a bilateral monopoly. I found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bargaining_problem

 

[Vrecknidj]

why is money a number

Um.

Really?

I mean. Really?

This isn't complicated, is it?

 

[QuickTwist]

why is money a number

What does number mean? What does the number measure?
what does it quantify?

It may quanitify value, but value is impossible to measure and does not have a mathematical qunaitity.

what happens if dollars have number on it, if every dollar have no number on it, what does it mean then? Lets just say 1 dollar is 1 ticket, 1000 dollars is still 1 ticket, rather than 100o tickets, what then?

Money is a number because numbers are easy to measure once an established measurement is given. A number is an agreed upon unit of measure. A number measures the established measurement. What does what quantify: an number or money? Yes, it quantifies value of the established measurement. Value is not impossible to measure because of the established unit of measurement. The quantity of a number is the amount of units based on the established unit of measurements.

Then I think you are acting like a jackass.

 

[walfin]

what happens if dollars have number on it, if every dollar have no number on it, what does it mean then? Lets just say 1 dollar is 1 ticket, 1000 dollars is still 1 ticket, rather than 100o tickets, what then?

That just means that every note would be a $1 note, imagine having to cart a wheelbarrow around to pay for something which costs $1000.

No, actually, you don't even have to imagine it, because Zimbabwe indeed faced that situation when the largest denomination of banknote was close to worthless. Pretty close to this situation since all of the banknotes had a negligible value individually.

 

[gilliatt]

Money is a tool of men that have advanced to a high level. Money has to be some material commodity, not a silly piece of paper. Money needs to be a tool of saving so one does not have to consume at this every moment. A form of a gold coin is something one can store overnight without it being worthless are de-valued in the morning when one wakes up. Money needs to be backed by actual unconsumed goods. Well, one might ask, what if we did not have money, what would be its substitute? They would point a gun at your head, 'your food etc or your life.'

 

[sushi]

Money is a tool of men that have advanced to a high level. Money has to be some material commodity, not a silly piece of paper. Money needs to be a tool of saving so one does not have to consume at this every moment. A form of a gold coin is something one can store overnight without it being worthless are de-valued in the morning when one wakes up. Money needs to be backed by actual unconsumed goods. Well, one might ask, what if we did not have money, what would be its substitute? They would point a gun at your head, 'your food etc or your life.'

sorry if this sounds offensive,but are you some libertarian troll? this sounds like something ayn rand would say.

 

[Hawkeye]

why is money a number

What does number mean? What does the number measure?
what does it quantify?

It may quanitify value, but value is impossible to measure and does not have a mathematical qunaitity.

what happens if dollars have number on it, if every dollar have no number on it, what does it mean then? Lets just say 1 dollar is 1 ticket, 1000 dollars is still 1 ticket, rather than 100o tickets, what then?

The number system used on money is merely a quantifier of value. The notes themselves do not cost $5, $50, $100, etc to make.

Value is not impossible to quantify. If someone has something you don't have, you ask them what they are willing to part with it for and haggle as appropriate.

Imagine if we used metal instead of notes to do everyday transactions of substantial value; unless you have the strength of Steve from Minecraft, you're going to become encumbered pretty quickly.

Money is a simple way to do transactions with people because it allows a carpenter to do business with a logger without offering him a chair in return, i.e., it cuts out closed system transactions and allows both parties to do business with other people from said transaction.

It's that simple.


btw

What's wrong with Ayn Rand?

 

[Ex-User (9062)]

Um.

Really?

I mean. Really?

This isn't complicated, is it?

Enlighten us.