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Comment by hyperpallium | Hacker News Reader

One thing that's difficult about math is all the "mathematical maturity" required, much of which is notation and... abuse of notation.

Math seems like an Arts subject, where you must learn all the cultural background, as in English Literature. I'm not sure it's necessary, given it's not logical nor self-contained, but is arbitary and historical. Then again, I'm not absolutely convinced it's not necessary...

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It is necessary but could be improved. If all we had was roman numerals we would still be in the dark ages.

Is it really necessary? I have so many memories of sitting in math classes and the teacher simply starts writing letters on the board and I am thinking to myself: what the hell does that symbol or letter represent? Before we even get around to the concept that the equation represents.

What you are describing is not unique to math. It is required in any discipline. In fact, it is required in any social interaction. People are constant;y building common vocabularies. The words and phrases you use at work are different than the ones you use at the neighborhood block party. Even among different friends you have different vocabularies. "Elbow" means something different to plumbers, fishers, basketball coaches, and musicians. "Panama" means something different to a very small subset of your friends. Humans are constantly building common vocabulary, and everyone maintains several different vocabularies simultaneously.

To complain about the effort to build a common vocabulary is to complain about the effort of participating in any society.

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