Recent searches
Search options
Most omnious words in the title of math texts:
"Introduction"
"Basic"
"Foundations of..."
And ... worst of all ?
"Naive"
If you see "naive" just RUN.
@futurebird @mildsunrise “Lie Groups for Pedestrians” was my bugbear.
@Virginicus @futurebird @mildsunrise
and beware the words "obvious" and "clearly".
they do not belong in a maths text, ever, in my opinion. and yet I encounter them time and again
they add nothing but a feeling of inadequacy on part of the reader, in case the statement *isn't* actually obvious or clear.
@quincy @Virginicus @futurebird @mildsunrise "left as exercise to the reader" can be annoying as well
@gerbrand @quincy @Virginicus @mildsunrise
Often "left as exercise to the reader" means "I have done this problem/proof in the past, so I know it is possible. But I don't feel like doing it right now. I will not examine *why* I might be avoiding it. It couldn't possibly be that something deep in my being remembers how horrible it was and I am avoiding it as all mathematicians avoid solved problems they know the answer to... if its a lot of work (after all isn't that the point of math?)"
@gerbrand @quincy @Virginicus @mildsunrise
Basically, the things that get "left as exercise to the reader" are so often awful because it's exactly the kind of picky, exhausting problem that isn't satisfying to do more than once.
Were it an elegant and breezy problem where everything comes together in a satisfying way the author would write it out just for the joy of doing it again.
Anyway that's my theory.
That said the "bad problems" are often where you really find out what you know.
@gerbrand @quincy @Virginicus @mildsunrise
It's sadly very rare for math text authors to put in the effort to setting up things for their reader so the *reader* gets to do the fun and satisfying part. I try to do this in my teaching when I can.
I don't claim to be an expert at it, but it's a goal I keep focusing on meeting in better ways.
@futurebird @gerbrand @Virginicus @mildsunrise
Yes, I do enjoy well-written texts that leave important points as exercises, if these are really doable it can add a lot to the experience.
@futurebird @gerbrand @quincy @Virginicus @mildsunrise It's LEFT as an exercise for the reader, but the author hasn't taken the time to consider whether it's RIGHT as an exercise to for the reader as well.
@gaditb @gerbrand @quincy @Virginicus @mildsunrise
Nobody likes unwanted leftovers.
@futurebird @gaditb @gerbrand @quincy @Virginicus @mildsunrise
My high school calc teacher always said "I'm going to make you do this the long, hard way once. After that, mathematicians are lazy, so there's a shortcut and I'll show you that."
@futurebird @gerbrand @quincy @Virginicus @mildsunrise
"The exercises in this book ranges from trivial to research grade.
The difficulty is not marked: if solving it yields a PhD, it was research grade".
