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Terence Tao is a great mathematician - accepted. But I wish journalists would use a fraction of the space they use for hyping Terence Tao to write about the mat
by wolfgke 12y ago
Terence Tao is a great mathematician - accepted. But I wish journalists would use a fraction of the space they use for hyping Terence Tao to write about the mathematics he does.
- curiouslurker 12y agoIt would be inaccessible to most. But the stories about the man can be enjoyed by everyone.
- wolfgke 12y agoThen the writer should give explanations to make it more accessible.
- Moshe_Silnorin 12y agoI suggest you give that a try. You will find it nearly impossible, stretching analogies into meaninglessness and then stacking them atop each other.
- wolfgke 12y agoIn some sense I did (not Fields-medal level, but graduate math level) some years ago. The problem is not that it is impossible or that one needs stretched analogies etc., but that the mass is simply doesn't like learning about concepts that are foreign to them etc. Or to explain it in different terms: When one asks me, what I'm doing as a mathematician (in research): When the other person works in a related area I can give a short, concise explanation that they will understand. On the other hand, if the counterpart hasn't that deep knowledge, I have to give longer explanations that are understandable for their level of knowledge. But this is not what they want to hear (and I have not yet found out, what they want to hear). For me it's quite illogical to ask what I'm doing research about, if they don't even want to hear the answer...
- justicezyx 12y agohow can he do that?
- kutkloon7 12y agoTerrence Tao has a blog where he writes about his work. It definitely doesn't cover the depth of his work, but it shows the type of work he is doing. Many entries are very readable (of course, there is a lot of mathematics in it, but Terrence Tao does an excellent job explaining in a relatively simple way). https://terrytao.wordpress.com/ https://terrytao.wordpress.com/