5 ms·
That's a very helpful comment. I wonder if partly to blame is the fact the mathematics doesn't have great terminology here: it's taught in US Universities as "A
by Myrmornis 7y ago
That's a very helpful comment. I wonder if partly to blame is the fact the mathematics doesn't have great terminology here: it's taught in US Universities as "Abstract Algebra", but my impression is that actual mathematicians find that term silly. On the other hand, just calling it "algebra" is difficult for people with more humble mathematical backgrounds since for them "algebra" is solving simultaneous equations etc.
- umanwizard 7y agoIndeed; in case it’s not clear from my comment, the above poster is right. I’m talking about abstract algebra, I.e. the study of algebraic structures, not about elementary algebra. In French, the situation is even worse: number theory is also called “arithmetic”. According to legend, sometimes innumerate peasants wanting to learn how to do basic sums would pick up a book called “arithmetic” in a bookstore that turned out to be a dense theoretical monograph on number theory.