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You just sadly reminded me of when I was an undergrad taking a grad class on "History of Mathematics". Two undergrads taking the class because it just sounded
by JakeStone 7y ago
You just sadly reminded me of when I was an undergrad taking a grad class on "History of Mathematics".
Two undergrads taking the class because it just sounded neat, and the professor made things interesting. 10 graduate students who were teachers taking the class for the increased salary. An evening seminar of three hours per week after work where we examined as much as possible over how people did math through the ages and through time.
You could tell these grads were bored. But, fine, dealing with kids all day, then having to learn something new that isn't likely to ever be more than a trivia point in a lecture might not be a great thing.
Then... We get to a point where it looks like Archimedes came this close to discovering integral calculus. [insert appropriate WOW! meme here]
A couple of grunts from the grads. Me and the other undergrad were gobsmacked.
There were other examples, but that's the one that always sticks in my head. It's also what contributed to me not being very impressed by some of the grade school teachers I met as my kids were enrolled.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- chengiz 7y agoI dont understand what you're trying to convey. I like history but someone almost discovering something holds no appeal for me; what actually happened does. And these people were not interested in the course in the first place.
- AlexCoventry 7y agoWhat would the world look like, if the calculus had been discovered two millenia earlier?
- chengiz 7y agoThat's fiction, not history.
- JakeStone 7y ago[TL;DR] It's not the destination, it's the journey. Archimedes didn't reach the destination of integral calculus, but he at least started the journey, and I appreciate it. [/TL;DR] I think it's a sense of wonder thing. The scope of knowledge (to my understanding) didn't exist back then to imagine infinitesimals. I believe they were having issues with irrationals, let alone things that approached 0 but weren't exactly 0. There's a sibling comment along the lines of "what if calculus had been discovered 2,000 years earlier" that touches on this, but I think for me there's added the idea that there's proof that some people, some times, can almost see what's next in terms of discoverable knowledge, and it keeps me hopeful. Most of us have some "off" theory/fantasy/hope with no rigid proof of validity. And many of those are just random neurons firing that might make a good fanfic. But there's that person over there who has a mostly fleshed out idea for (insert super tech here) and just needs to figure out step 37. It turns out she'll never invent the super tech defined. But X-2891q in the year 3971 will meme a holograph that brings that super tech into reality. While the super tech likely adds to society, the original person who came up with elements of the concept enriched herself in doing so, by my perspective.
- katzgrau 7y agoI mean this is the most positive way: you are a bona-fide nerd. I would would also be really intrigued/interested to learn that. But my experience with teachers is that most of them are not nerds - the ones that are tend to have that beaten out of them by the profession. Not all though.
- JakeStone 7y agoThank you! It's nice to be recognized properly.