13 ms·
I guess what I'm saying is the original comment's opening statement is vacuous. We can argue semantics over whether or not it's "unpleasant" or "frustrating" to
by throwawaymath 8y ago
I guess what I'm saying is the original comment's opening statement is vacuous. We can argue semantics over whether or not it's "unpleasant" or "frustrating" to learn difficult new abstractions in math, but the more important point is that 1) learning math is difficult for approximately everyone, even accomplished mathematicians, and 2) it's silly to avoid taking advice from people who had a difficult time learning math, because that rules out almost all your potential teachers. Even as an enjoyable experience it's frequently confounding. If it weren't, Wiles' famous analogy about stumbling around in a dark mansion looking for lights wouldn't be as oft-repeated as it is. If you don't want to use the word "frustration", then fine don't use it, but I think that misses the substance of the article author's point. You could adequately replace the statement in question with, "Be willing to endure ungodly amounts of confusion."
- romwell 8y agoWell, not knowing where you are is not the same as feeling confused, in the same way as a wanderer who doesn't know where they are isn't necessary lost. What I hear you saying can be seen as a gym analogy: no pain, no gain. The hidden part here is that gym rats actually enjoy the experience, whatever words you use to describe it, and for many others who are after the results it's merely painful. If you are in grad school: in my opinion, graduate schools are supremely successful in sucking all the joy out of doing mathematics (and life). The whole system needs to be scrapped. I agree that one should not avoid taking advice on math from someone who struggled with it - because, as you note, that's all of us. However, I would not take advice on a subject from someone who's never really enjoyed doing it.