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I had a bit more fun with my math degree than the author did, but the curriculum taught me similar things. I'd add one more: I think it helped me be a better w

I had a bit more fun with my math degree than the author did, but the curriculum taught me similar things. I'd add one more: I think it helped me be a better writer. All of college and the closing out of adolescent cognitive development probably contributed some of that too, but I noticed that by the time I'd made my way through analysis classes that I was getting better responses to my written communication and that I could detect a tightness in some of it that was familiar. I think it came from spending so much time trying to clearly articulate details of abstract concepts that I was struggling to come to grips with. A proof is arguably a (very specialized) form of a persuasive essay designed first to illuminate and convince oneself. Perhaps it contributed to the author becoming a better writer too.

newen 8y ago
This is so true. I took a proofs class the second year (maybe semester idk) of my college and it was really illuminating. Before that class, language was just something I used to talk to people or to read stories. I don't think I really grasped the fact that language can be used for analysis or arguments before that class. I never read philosophy before that class so that could be it too.
yomritoyj 8y ago
Analysis has had the opposite effect on my writing. After having my head buried in measure theory for a semester I wrote in a report for my student organization: "The set of inactive members of the Executive Committee is a non-negligible one." I was asked to rewrite that.
- matthewrudy 8y ago
  "non-negligible" doesn't sound very precise. You mean "non-empty but finite"? "There exists a member of the Committee that is not active"
  - semigroupoid 8y ago
    In the context of measure theory, a "non-negligible" set is a set with measure greater than zero.
- rocqua 8y ago
  At the very least "The set of inactive members of the Executive Committee is non-negligible" would've been better.

newen 8y ago

This is so true. I took a proofs class the second year (maybe semester idk) of my college and it was really illuminating. Before that class, language was just something I used to talk to people or to read stories. I don't think I really grasped the fact that language can be used for analysis or arguments before that class. I never read philosophy before that class so that could be it too.

yomritoyj 8y ago

Analysis has had the opposite effect on my writing. After having my head buried in measure theory for a semester I wrote in a report for my student organization: "The set of inactive members of the Executive Committee is a non-negligible one." I was asked to rewrite that.

matthewrudy 8y ago
"non-negligible" doesn't sound very precise. You mean "non-empty but finite"? "There exists a member of the Committee that is not active"
- semigroupoid 8y ago
  In the context of measure theory, a "non-negligible" set is a set with measure greater than zero.
rocqua 8y ago
At the very least "The set of inactive members of the Executive Committee is non-negligible" would've been better.