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For most people, dealing with mathematical proofs is a kind of parroting. They learn a path and can follow it all right, but they never deviate from the said pa
by guard-of-terra 15y ago
For most people, dealing with mathematical proofs is a kind of parroting.
They learn a path and can follow it all right, but they never deviate from the said path because there's no point.
Which might be insightful but is inherently boring, because there's no way you'll make anything that didn't exist before. You only make some mind ways in your brain which will perhaps help you one day dealing with some real problem with real output.
Might as well flash a firmware over your brain.
Given the current state of math, very few people would ever be able to contribute anything.
Others can skip to the plan B immediately.
- shasta 15y agoFor most people, dealing with any math is parroting, which is the problem. Creating proofs of simple things is well within the grasp of bright high school students, and is a wonderful experience -- I feel sorry for anyone who misses out on it. Really, very little traditional mathematics is required to enjoy proving that there is no solution to the bridges of Konigsberg problem, no way to cover a chess board with dominoes leaving only opposite corners exposed, or no largest prime.
- true_religion 15y agoMost people don't learn proofs. If you're going to learn about proofs beyond mere knowledge that they exist, then you have to be forced to do proofs from scratch. Doing a proof from scratch is akin to being given a compass and told that somewhere past the wilderness is the promised land where others have blazed trails to but otherwise given no other help. You know you can create the proof (since its a book problem) but how to is entirely up to you.