3 ms·
One would think that he would know whether his own sister, the recipient, would have sufficient mathematical background to understand his work.
by ThrowawayR2 2y ago
One would think that he would know whether his own sister, the recipient, would have sufficient mathematical background to understand his work.
- bmitc 2y agoExactly, so why take the time to remind her of that? Ego is why.
- ThrowawayR2 2y agoA more positive interpretation could be something like "I can't express what I want to say without going into topics that I know you have no familiarity with. But I'm aware of that and am not just insensitively bombarding you with jargon."
- 082349872349872 2y agoIndeed. This is a six (printed) page letter, and already at a page or two in I wouldn't be surprised if it would take that many textbooks (how many printed pages?) to get SAW from where ever she left off (I don't recall maths being very prominent in classics/philosophy departments; note AW's description of a field) to where she could have a hope of seeing the moon itself, beyond the finger pointing at it.