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For me, expressing math as code in a high-level language like R is way more intuitive, and faster to read/write/extend/verify than formulae. This said, my cont
by confounded 9y ago
For me, expressing math as code in a high-level language like R is way more intuitive, and faster to read/write/extend/verify than formulae.
This said, my context is always data-analysis/modeling. I’ve never felt intimidated by code, though I spent many years being intimidated by certain formulae. I’m fairly certain that I’d have pursued math to a much higher level in school if the symbolic expressions were pseudo code I could mess with, but this may just be my odd learning style.
- jaltekruse 9y agoThis might be a good final ending step, with a society full of code literate students, but currently we aren't anywhere near that. Students and professionals alike use math notation, and I think it is important we find ways to bridge the gap between paper and digital math representations. Every process that has moved to computers has seen immense productivity enhancements. Production of written text, audio editing, video editing, engineering drafting, all of these things involve producing a ton of unique information in a workflow. Copy/paste, versioning (even primitive versioning saving old docs), undo/redo, and re-arranging large groups of content are just so powerful that you can't go back to life without them once you can use then second nature in a given context.
- Myrmornis 9y agoWhat proportion of the range of mathematical notation that professional mathematicians use would you estimate you're able to express in R?
- confounded 9y agoIn R, an inadequate one, but that’s not R’s goal. I’m merely saying that in terms of symbolic representation of math, I’ve personally found code or pseudo-code the fastest to understand (but I’m not a professional mathematician!).