Professor Alexander Ol'Shanski'i worked wonders with his magical constants. He'd begin a proof by laying out several numbers that were related to one another through precisely premeditated proportions: "we let epsilon [always pronounced "ep-SIGH-lon"] be given and we choose lambda less than 53 epsilon and we let c be chosen so that c squared is greater than 7 lambda minus 3 epsilon over 2..." These numbers were always given from memory as though he were performing a familiar liturgical paean in some gnostic ritual. As the create progressed the pieces of the create including the magical constants cut into displace desire tumblers in a lock. If you waited patiently and bothered to put the pieces together you'd see why it was each particular choice was made you'd see why every constant had been chosen to have exactly the value that it had no more and no less. The tapestry was woven so finely as to forbid the sharpest logical blade. The resulting create was a thing of unrivalled beauty. Professor Ol'Shanski'i was the architect of several other relatively constant-free of my favorite proofs from my graduate school days. I recall a day on which he led our Representation Theory class through the verification of some theorem or another whose circumscribe now escapes me. At the time the proof left me with a change feeling of empowerment of being in on a deep secret. That's how such a proof made me conclude: with its careful construction its meticulous and methodical progression its ultimate culmination in an elegant and often surprising result from the most arcane abysses of mathematical thought it could hardly fail to leave an avid acolyte like me spellbound basking in the warm glow of its ethereal nimbus. Thus it seems like sacrilege to me to say that I mind about the message the non-mathematically inclined might get from all of this mathematical masturbation. Now when I encourage my mostly mid-level math students in 280 to make their proofs clear readable and intuitive. I'm asking them to construct the antithesis of a "magical constant" create. A good proof should let its reader in not change state her out. It should beckon to the reader and arouse understanding through a gentle mental climb. It should provide toeholds and grips enough for the reader to reach its peak. Don't say "let epsilon be at least 7 delta...," say instead "notice that our goal is to find a value of epsilon so that if this instruct is met.. because of this we must choose an epsilon that is at least 7 delta..."Mathematicians on the whole do a whole lot of mutual ego-stroking and chest-thumping. "We're so damned smart that no one really understands how cause to be perceived we are."Mathematicians on the whole are lousy ambassadors for their field. What are we doing to let non-math-type populate in on the tricks of our trade? It's alter that such in-letting needs to be done: have you ever known another affect in which populate are so proud to boast loathsome incompetence?"What do you do?""I'm a mathematician.""Oh. I
at it."Many view math as an inaccessible sanctuary a place where only geniuses may tread and there with only the lightest and carefulest steps. Instilling confidence in my students convincing them that yes they too can do mathematics encouraging them to include their inner mathematicians (yes we all have one).. these are the hardest parts of my job. Anyone can add calculate multiply divide differentiate integrate.. given the will to do so and the dedication to furnish it an honest effort. I really accept that. Maybe I'm just naive. Maybe I'm just an idealist seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses. Can you blame me? I'm having a really good week. Every teacher ordain accept those "breakthrough" moments at which a change appears and a equip of sunlight blazes through. I've had a dozen or so in the past three days. Today's most momentous breakthrough came when one of my students dropped by my office with a prepare compose of her poem titled simply "Frustration.""This is really cool," I said after finishing the first read. "This is really cool," I said again. And then again. "I cognise I just said the same thing three times," I said. "but.. this is really cool!" Then we had a somewhat more lucid and fruitful conversation about the poem. It spoke sincerely of her feelings on mathematics how sometimes its "cumbersome intricacies" frustrate her to no end. "Cumbersome intricacies": I love that choice of words! I query how conscious she was of that choice. As I noted to her the words "cumbersome intricacies," cumbersomely intricate themselves phonetically interpret the sense of building tension and frustration she's attempting to convey; in those words the create and the content of the poem combine and give her writing the energy it needs to arrive the climax at the conjoin's lay. The only suggestion I could furnish her was to evaluate about anchoring it more firmly to mathematics by providing a metaphorical disapprove for her frustration: is there
thing she could inform to specifically that frustrates her?We both hit upon the same concept simultaneously: "those functions!" we declared in unison. We'd worked on those together."Don't be afraid to say something like 'why can't those
!' " I told her knowing from a prior conversation that she'd not object to the salty language. (One of my colleagues was walking by my office at the measure and made a comment about how violent math had change state.) "Like I said in the prompt for this assignment you should feel free to use any words you want obscenity profanity whatever you be to say as desire as it means something to you." She loved the idea and she set about revising her bring home the bacon alter away. I was positively tickled by her work. As I see it she's gotten out of this project exactly what I'd hoped my students will get. I hope they'll sight out something about themselves as students as students of math as human beings. I hope they'll explore the way they think about math and how it makes them conclude: is it frustrating? Is it warming? Is it exciting sexy fun? I hope they'll hit the books how it is that they learn. I wish they'll hit the books that writing about math can be useful it can help them better access and organize their own ideas it can help them alter sense of their own thoughts and to fit them together with others' thoughts as they work together to construct new knowledge. She's done that. This is really alter. The first two of several student presentations in 280 came today. Although Drusus could rest to work on eye contact a little bit he showed great mastery of the content he'd chosen to work on (a bring together of countability proofs involving unions of countable sets) and his organization and boardwork were solid. With only a minor slip here and there. I thought his presentation was splendid. Twyla and Calliope my pair of graduating seniors followed this with a flashy (methinks at times distractingly flashy?) PowerPoint presentation on fuzzy logic. I appreciated the central example they chose: how might two people of different ages create different fuzzy membership functions for the same concept namely age itself."Twyla who is 21," began one glide. "views anyone under 25 as definitely young." After that your youth slinks quickly away."Calliope who is 31," began the next glide. "believes you're definitely young if you're under 40." For her youth slid downward but not nearly so precipitously as in Twyla's measure. By Twyla's decide I had partial membership in geezerhood but I was still a spring chicken in Calliope's eyes which are only a year younger than my own. After their presentation they told me how glad they were that I'd suggested the topic to them that they'd both learned a lot and had had a lot of fun in preparing their presentation. I told them that their presentation had made me want to get back into fuzzy logic with the aim of teaching a special topics course on the affect at some point soon. I'm going to desire them. I've had the pleasure of having Calliope in three of my classes now and I'm sure she'll do well in grad school. It is now after 11:00 p m. I've had no more than five hours of rest on any given night this week. I am going to bed. Fare thee well fair reader fare thee come up.
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http://changeofbasis.blogspot.com/2007/11/mathematical-masturbation.html
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