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I found the writing style to be incredibly obnoxious and hand wavy, and really make me stop reading.
by xxpor 14y ago
I found the writing style to be incredibly obnoxious and hand wavy, and really make me stop reading.
- crntaylor 14y agoThat's interesting. I guess 'obnoxious' is pretty subjective, but which part did you find 'hand-wavy'? The parts I've read have been quite rigorous.
- xxpor 14y agoI don't think hand wavy was exactly the right way to describe it, more like flippant.
- xxpor 14y agoAlso, some examples of what I found objectionable: * Abstract algebra, topology (local and global) folds into a useful, intuitive toolset for ordinary differential equations and partial differential equations, be they linear or nonlinear. (This annoying to read be they construction is used multiple times) * Abstract algebra, topology, and algebraic topology aren’t vacuous constructs built for useless mental masturbation by “pure” mathematicians; the study of differential equations is more than a study of botany.
- dmcdougall_ 14y agoAdmittedly, I stopped before then when I saw the poor mathematics rendering. For some reason unbeknownst to me, the equations appear cramped and difficult to read.
- drivebyacct2 14y agoYes, I know that I sound whiny but I'd love to see this rendered via LaTeX.
- verroq 14y agoWhen I saw that this was a word document exported as a pdf I knew this wasn't a serious text.
- olympus 14y agoI'm pretty sure I know the guy that wrote this (seriously, how many physicists named Alex Alaniz are there?), and he can't have LaTeX on his work computer because of some really dumb rules. So I don't blame him for it being an exported Word document because a LaTeX version would have meant doing this all at home instead of his spare time at work.
- dmcdougall_ 14y agoI don't blame him. Instead, I just didn't read it.
- iconjack 14y agoExample: It is time to note that our one-parameter symmetries are groups in the sense of modern algebra. Why? To masturbate with nomenclature as you do in an abstract algebra class? No.
- snatch_backside 14y agoiconjack, you are a dead user. Time to create a new account.
- iconjack 14y agoWhat do you mean, a dead user? I was just quoting from the document, as an example of writing some might find obnoxious. Personally I find it rather entertaining.
- jacquesm 14y agoNo worries. This happens when you 'double post' a comment (usually because HN dies in mid submission) and then delete the original. The duplicate then stays grayed out making people think that your account has been hellbanned.