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>People used to memorize log and trig tables, and no one would say that's part of being a competent mathematician at this point. That would be closer to engine
by Jtarii 4mo ago
>People used to memorize log and trig tables, and no one would say that's part of being a competent mathematician at this point.
That would be closer to engineering or accounting than mathematics. I don't think mathematicians do much arithmetic at all.
- xhkkffbf 4mo agoGo read the story that Richard Feynman tells of betting an abacus user. He used his knowledge of some strange numbers. It's in _Surely You Must Be Joking_. I suspect his facility with numbers and his knowledge of tables like this really helped him do physics research. See also his stories on approximation.