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It is very true that serious users of mathematics (engineers, scientists, even mathematicians themselves) don't really rely on their ability to do calculations
by orborde 17y ago
It is very true that serious users of mathematics (engineers, scientists, even mathematicians themselves) don't really rely on their ability to do calculations by hand; indeed, a lot of them suck at it. Doing it by hand while learning the subject matter gives you a much more visceral experience of what's actually happening, though, even if you use a tool to do it for you most of the time.
- lmkg 17y agoVery true. I became a math major in college because it was the only technical discipline where I didn't have to deal with numbers. I calculate the standard deviation the same way everyone else does, I plug the numbers into Excel, but I know what's going on under the hood and I have a better understanding of what the result means. For example, the standard deviation of the sample versus the standard deviation of the mean came up the other day.
- pmiller2 17y agoI wish I could get people to believe me when I tell them math is not about numbers and that computer science isn't about computers.
- camccann 17y agoThere's a well-known quote that says "computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes". Often attributed to Dijkstra, but I don't know if there's a reliable source.