J Jones schrieb:
The $%^& signs he uses are meaningless untill they are associated with
the everyday term pyramid.

I didn't say he "uses" the signs ?@#%!.
You are getting me totally wrong.
The sign ?@#%! is "my" referal to "his" mental model.

His mental model will sure contain an abstraction
of the pyramid. But it might contain much more
things, including autopoiesis parts. And he might
extend his mind by tools, such as abacus etc..,
or even do this in mind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacus_system

You know he will later produce the answer 100'000.

Bye

The point still remains that if mathematics is going to be applicable to
the real world as we encounter it, then it cannot do so by simply by
talking about something else. At some point it must refer to the real
world.