This was brilliant. Thanks for (re)posting it.
I had never heard of Rota before. I'll have to read more about him. It's a bit sad that he lived for only a couple years after this lecture, dying at the relatively young age of 66. (Wikipedia)
I had never heard of Rota before. I'll have to read more about him. It's a bit sad that he lived for only a couple years after this lecture, dying at the relatively young age of 66. (Wikipedia)
There was also a persistent rumor that he'd once given a diffeq multiple choice exam (scored like the SAT, so that a fraction of a point was deducted for every wrong answer) on which the average score was 1 or 2 percent, ie simply handing in a blank exam would probably have given a passing score. But I never confirmed that.