Hacker News Reader

Comment by idclip | Hacker News Reader

I disagree. Mathematics is a tool to practice our hobbies .. see Feynman‘s biography.

Rot mathematics is where it goes wrong. Meta mathematics, abstract, detached from real life, as alot of the academy with its publish pr perish thinking ... that produces pain. Existential voids filled with an exercise that does not help many to move forward optimally.

saying weirdos hate logic is extremely dismissive to a lot of what I would call the human experience.

The same stuff can be taught with soul and purpose If we actually show children how they can apply mathematics to improve and enhance what they’re actually doing whether it is building castles in Lego, Or designing faster toy car, A better school project volcano, etc

View on HN

> Rot mathematics is where it goes wrong.

Not sure what you mean by "rot mathematics".

> Meta mathematics, abstract, detached from real life, as alot of the academy with its publish pr perish thinking ... that produces pain.

Some (including me) would say that the meta and abstract mathematics is most beautiful of all...

> saying weirdos hate logic is extremely dismissive to a lot of what I would call the human experience.

I think you misread the parent comment (although to be clear, I'm not defending it).

But im talking children ... im not against the abstract, i actually infatuated with category theory.

The method, the context id wrong.

Its physics and haskell that made me fall inlove. People like me need context, beyond the aesthetic - math TEACHING is lacking, its not a criticism of math itself.

And also thank you for the balanced reply, i was a bit emotional as i wrote that reply. Ill reread and rethink the parent. Maybe i missed something

rote

Stanis.jpg :D

I feel like in Today's day and age it's about understanding the fundamentals of a system and using software tools that automate the heavy math to allow for creative problem solving quickly and dynamically, that wouldn't be possible on paper only or through manual computation only. I'd rather give the kid advanced tools to analyze and improve on the structure than force them to learn the already abstracted ulta-fundamental and impractical math that runs those tools...

> Mathematics is a tool to practice our hobbies .. see Feynman‘s biography

I think pointing to a math/physics expert's life story to defend your premise is a bit of a circular reasoning

Look at how he started, and he wasnt super human. I think youre elivating him to a place he isnt in. I honestly think you him less credit by doing so. He was one of us, which makes his feats even more impressive.

Feynmann ENJOYED working on puzzles. He started with radios, and fiddled with electricity... and learned hid math as a kid from bools written for „working men“ (which i read and workd through) .. their language is not what you see in textbooks.

He also invented his own notation (talking pre-uni, not physics notation hes also known for) and says he finally switched because he realized he wanted people to understand him, and partially due to conventions.

He played, he didnt get taught, he explored. He learned math to pursue his passion, not vice versa

xkcd is a webcomic about logic (at least it was in its initial days) and it has gained an extremely passive-aggressive (e.g. explainxkcd) hatedom that makes the Barney the Dinosaur hatedom look outright amiable by comparison.

Why does xkcd have such a strong hatedom? It's not because they love logic, lucidity, and symmetry.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com