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> I think mathematicians don't yet understand the power of mathematical notation and what it does. We use it, but we don't understand it I think this is where
by bsedlm 4y ago
> I think mathematicians don't yet understand the power of mathematical notation and what it does. We use it, but we don't understand it
I think this is where a computer science (but really, "computologist" mindset) differs from a typical mathematical one; us CS (computer-software) people do understand this power very well, at the least it's why I'm interested in CS (computer 'science').
> It's almost as if the symbols are doing some of the thinking for you.
It's quite literally the symbols doing some of the thinking for you, specifically the symbols are doing the computing or calculating part of thinking.
- chairhairair 4y ago> It's quite literally the symbols doing some of the thinking for you, specifically the symbols are doing the computing or calculating part of thinking. I was feeling bad earlier this week when thinking about taking the derivative of x^3. I, of course, didn't derive the answer geometrically. I did what most everyone does, I imagined the "3" symbol floating down and being replaced by n-1. But there is no reason to feel bad! I was outsourcing the computation to the symbols. The notation is good enough that some easily-remembered symbolic rules are just as good as (or actually equivalent to) the real computation.
- johnthescott 4y agoi then the student grasped the pea.
- chairhairair 4y agoWhat does that mean?