4 ms·

And it wasn't even an algebraic geometer talking about "blowing up points on a plane" this time! (Closer to home: My father had an interesting experience once

And it wasn't even an algebraic geometer talking about "blowing up points on a plane" this time! (Closer to home: My father had an interesting experience once at a chemistry conference when a member of the public heard that he was studying "free radials". Language is weird.)

cnvogel 11y ago
Even worse, he probably studied "free radicals"! (I suspect a typo in parent)
- nine_k 11y ago
  He should have told that "reaction" and "restoration" May also be involved.
- cperciva 11y ago
  Oops, thanks for the correction; I blame my phone. Unfortunately too late for me to correct the post now.
eru 11y ago
I heard this story about a mathematician that wanted to score points with the establishment during the cold war / hippie period. He annouced that he was studying how to "remove radicals".
ikeboy 11y ago
Math (particularly the axiom of choice) is known to be reactionary and evil: http://alexanderpruss.com/HOAX.pdf http://alexanderpruss.com/HOAX.pdf
raverbashing 11y ago
I'm not sure they changed the headline, but my first thought was "oh it's some kind of algebra that relates to geometry but outside of a plane?"