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This is so wrong... The point of math is that ideas can be generalized and re-used in previously unexpected places -- your ideas remind me Middle Ages where peo
by mbq 15y ago
This is so wrong... The point of math is that ideas can be generalized and re-used in previously unexpected places -- your ideas remind me Middle Ages where people were learning a mnemonic poems to remember "law of proportion", treating it like a precious magic gizmo and were perfectly sure they wouldn't be able to recreate it once forgotten.
- Riesling 15y agoHave you read the article? One of his arguments is that math, due to its interface, is not about ideas but about abstract symbols and "symbol-pushing tricks". For example many people know how to use the chain rule when they derive a function, without even having the slightest grasp of what is going on. How is this any different from "learning a mnemonic poem to remember the law of proportion"?