4 ms·
fyi, generally when explaining things to non-practitioners, it's a detractor to add qualifiers like - this is a very basic thing - that's all there is to it
by platz 6y ago
fyi, generally when explaining things to non-practitioners, it's a detractor to add qualifiers like
- this is a very basic thing
- that's all there is to it
because although it is a basic thing to you, it's not a basic thing to someone who hasn't spent the same time studying all the concepts beforehand.
This is generally why you have to take a class to grok stats rather than just read some reference material and definitions.
It's similar to programming environments when the senior dev says some thing that requires a lot of context is just really simple.
Monads are Simply Just monoids in the category of endofunctors, after all, they are really Simple, that's all there is to it! (what the subject hears: This is so simple to me, why aren't you smart enough to get this simple concept? You should know this already—I shouldn't even have to make this comment! Why haven't you been properly educated, like I have? )
- curiousgal 6y agoI totally agree but I was explaining that to practionners, or at least people who consider themselves data scientists. I agree that it is by no means a beginner friendly explanation.
- kelvin0 6y agoIs that what some people call the 'mansplain' method?
- jiaaro 6y agono. all explanations must make some assumption about what readers already know, or else every explanation would begin with teaching english. also, mansplaining generally refers to assuming people (women, usually) have less pre-existing knowledge than they actually do.
- kelvin0 6y agoThanks for clarifying. So condescending is not necessarily mansplaining. But mansplaining IS condescending.
- ImaCake 6y agoThe author of the parent explains their view well I think (not directed at statistics students). But I would like to make the more general complaint that this attitude seems pervasive in maths. People often fail to include enough detail in their derivations of proofs or their explanations of things and the students are left confused and unsure because they don't see how they got from step 3 to step 4.
- curiousgal 6y agoI wholeheartedly agree with you, in my case I was typing my comment on my phone while waiting on the train. I wanted to get into as many details as possible but not having access to easily typed math notation made my task harder.