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If someone claims to be a "mathematical thinker" then probably they should be able to convey their thoughts in a precise and concise manner. For example by sta
by rvba 5y ago
If someone claims to be a "mathematical thinker" then probably they should be able to convey their thoughts in a precise and concise manner.
For example by starting with a definition and then expanding/explaining it.
Blogspam written by someone who sounds like a teenager with ADHD should be posted in the "iamverysmart" subreddit, not on HN.
- devnonymous 5y agoEhe ...you do realise you're speaking about this guy here right? http://profkeithdevlin.com/ http://profkeithdevlin.com/
- rvba 5y agoDoes he have a Putnam?
- devnonymous 5y agoSo I take it you didn't read the post you commented on, else you'd know that the post describes the distinction between mathematical thinking and doing mathematics.
- rvba 5y agoSo he doesnt have a Putnam?
- devnonymous 5y agoSo you haven't actually read the post?
- carapace 5y agoIt's an old HN in-joke: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079
- zd123 5y agoWhat does that have to do with anything? Is there a point to your question?
- new_guy 5y agoDoes it magically stop being blogspam if we know who that is supposed to be?
- devnonymous 5y agoYes, A blog post from someone authoritative about the content certainly warrants higher consideration before being dismissed as blogspam by a random passing comment by someone who isn't, imho.
- Jensson 5y ago> they should be able to convey their thoughts in a precise and concise manner. But that is exactly the thing, most people aren't able to convey their thoughts in a precise manner, it requires a lot of words. Programmers knows this as well, it is hard to describe things precisely, human written language is very imprecise. The difference is that mathematicians has to explain things precisely to other humans, while programmers just has to explain things precisely to a computer, never to other humans, it is fine if the other humans just gets a cursory understanding. So when it comes to explaining things precisely to other humans mathematicians are the experts, not programmers, programmers still thinks that imprecise explanations are good enough for human consumption.
- jcranberry 5y agoI don't think mathematicians are always precise. I think what mathematicians are good at is mapping intuition to and from precision. So when speaking to each other for the sake of brevity they'll speak intuitively, but rely on an assumed intuition-precision mapping in order to have common understanding.