4 ms·

That's a hell of an idea. One thing it took me a long time to learn was that being good at math is mostly about working really hard. It's hard to know that, bec

by jsomers 16y ago

That's a hell of an idea. One thing it took me a long time to learn was that being good at math is mostly about working really hard. It's hard to know that, because until you're a graduate student the only messy incomplete work you ever see is your own. Everything you find in textbooks is pristine, and worse, it all looks like it occurred quite naturally to the author.

omaranto 16y ago
"because until you're a graduate student the only messy, incomplete work you ever see is your own" That's assuming, of course, you never ever try to solve a problem with anyone else before grad school. That seems possible but highly unlikely.
- w1ntermute 16y ago
  There's a big difference between seeing a peer struggling on a problem and seeing an instructor/professor struggling on a problem.
ionfish 16y ago
A few weeks ago I was in a maths lecture, and the lecturer was, as is fairly standard, writing proofs from his notes as he went. He then mentioned one of the exercises, explained the proof strategy for it, and then started to actually write out the proof. After five or six lines he stopped, scratched his head, looked at the proof, and crossed out the last line he'd written. Then he looked at it some more. After a couple of minutes he looked up, apologised, and said he'd got stuck and that we'd go back over it in the next lecture. It was a great relief to me that my own struggles were not the result of laziness or stupidity: some things are just hard, and take a while to get right, and it's rare to be able to write down something in its correct form on the first pass.
- pbhjpbhj 16y ago
  >After five or six lines he stopped, scratched his head, looked at the proof, and crossed out the last line he'd written. Then he looked at it some more. After a couple of minutes he looked up, apologised, and said he'd got stuck and that we'd go back over it in the next lecture. He probably just proved the Riemann Hypothesis in his head and got distracted.

by jsomers 16y ago

omaranto 16y ago

"because until you're a graduate student the only messy, incomplete work you ever see is your own" That's assuming, of course, you never ever try to solve a problem with anyone else before grad school. That seems possible but highly unlikely.

w1ntermute 16y ago
There's a big difference between seeing a peer struggling on a problem and seeing an instructor/professor struggling on a problem.

ionfish 16y ago

A few weeks ago I was in a maths lecture, and the lecturer was, as is fairly standard, writing proofs from his notes as he went. He then mentioned one of the exercises, explained the proof strategy for it, and then started to actually write out the proof. After five or six lines he stopped, scratched his head, looked at the proof, and crossed out the last line he'd written. Then he looked at it some more. After a couple of minutes he looked up, apologised, and said he'd got stuck and that we'd go back over it in the next lecture. It was a great relief to me that my own struggles were not the result of laziness or stupidity: some things are just hard, and take a while to get right, and it's rare to be able to write down something in its correct form on the first pass.

pbhjpbhj 16y ago
>After five or six lines he stopped, scratched his head, looked at the proof, and crossed out the last line he'd written. Then he looked at it some more. After a couple of minutes he looked up, apologised, and said he'd got stuck and that we'd go back over it in the next lecture. He probably just proved the Riemann Hypothesis in his head and got distracted.