> a million mathematicians cried out in terror I'm sure this is meant as joshing, but I don't really get it. I reduce abstract concepts to geometry all the ti

> a million mathematicians cried out in terror I'm sure this is meant as joshing, but I don't really get it. I reduce abstract concepts to geometry all the time in my classes-- every math person does. For instance on the first day of Calc, I reduce the rate of change of a fcn to the slope of a tangent line. It is true though that at least in the US many students see determinants for the first time in Calc III where they are used for Jacobians and are introduced as computational gadgets (many instructors would say that they did not have the extra day to describe them in another way, such as the linked-to article does). That's too bad, and I could definitely understand it leaving a bad taste.