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the vast majority of mathematical equations/terms would become completely unreadable if you replaced single symbols with descriptive terms. You are going to hav
by fxwin 2y ago
the vast majority of mathematical equations/terms would become completely unreadable if you replaced single symbols with descriptive terms. You are going to have to internalize what the symbols refer to anyways to understand the formula, and once that is accomplished any additional description is a waste of space and cognitive bandwidth.
- card_zero 2y agoNah, try it, you'll be fine. The real problem is, everybody else will complain, because its unconventional. Then you look foolish.
- jordigh 2y agoWe did try it. We tried it for a couple of millenia. It was much harder to understand and our collective mathematical output as a human species was much slower than it is now. Shorthand is better.
- card_zero 2y agoNo, I don't believe you. Mathematicians love inaccessibility.
- fujinghg 2y agoIt's not that. You know when you go to a foreign country, ask for a particular thing in a restaurant proudly in their language that you picked up on Duolingo the week before and the waiter starts talking to you quickly in their language and you lose it completely. We are just that waiter. You didn't learn the language or get the prerequisite skills. So do that or don't bother. It's not easy and there are no shortcuts.
- xigoi 2y agoConsider the formula (a+b)² = a² + 2ab + b². How would you name the variables to make it more “readable”?
- jordigh 2y agoThe square of the sum of two quantities equals the sum of the square of each quantity plus twice their product. So much more readable! /s
- fxwin 2y agoEven if i agreed with you that full words/phrases were easier to parse, any gains made here are easily offset by how much harder and laborious it is to manipulate them on paper