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| Nonsensical Markey: It's Not Math, It's Arithmetic |
| 2013-06-12 |
| Posted by:Beavis |
| #7 The reason I distinguish between arithmetic and math is because I had a lot of trouble explaining to people what I did. And of course, too many people told me with pride that, "Math was my worst subject." |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2013-06-12 23:42 |
| #6 First glance, looks like Bill Murray inbred with Joe Biden. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2013-06-12 23:37 |
| #5 Being good at an academic thing and being good at getting published are intersecting sets, Eric. Unfortunately, nowadays only one set gets tenure in our leading institutions. On the other hand, the cross-fertilization of the first set with the outside world has only benefitted the outside world, so I'm glad you found a place to land. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-06-12 23:36 |
| #4 That's right, TW. Being able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide is hardly what I used to do. Granted, I ended up not being particularly good at moduli theory of Riemann Surfaces, but there is a difference. Publish or Perish—I Perished. Not that all mathematics must be difficult to understand. "Show that if 6 people are at a party, either 3 are mutual acquaintances to each other, or 3 are mutual strangers to each other." can be taught to a 6-year-old in five minutes, but that's mathematics and not arithmetic. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2013-06-12 22:59 |
| #3 If one defines math as calculus and the topology of irregular multidimensional surfaces and the kind of higher things our Eric Jablow used to play with, versus the arithmetic that bookkeepers do, he's absolutely right. But that's not how the term is used colloquially. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-06-12 21:33 |
| #2 What these chumps don't understand is that arithmetic always wins in the end, no matter how much you play fast and loose with the budget numbers. See Detroit for a preview. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2013-06-12 15:20 |
| #1 About the level of intellectual contribution one might expect from this sort. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2013-06-12 13:49 |