Comments on: Quoted without comment

By: tdstephens3

tdstephens3 — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 04:31:59 +0000

…the context…results oriented programs will not “create” more mathematicians/scientists. The position of scientist requires far more than good test scores. Please pick up on this, the culture of the scientist is unique and poorly understood.

By: Walt

Walt — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 05:26:57 +0000

Jonathan: That’s like the greatest story ever. Clearly you were destined to double major solely so someone could say that to you someday. I see now that everything is foreordained.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 19:32:30 +0000

Perhaps a response should be that as a Math major you understand the difference between discrete and continuous data, so as an English major you know that â€œ10 items or lessâ€ is poor English.
(see Bad marks for Tesco near the bottom of http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1971445,00.html and Pedants’ revolt near the bottom of http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1971445,00.html )

By: Jonathan Vos Post

Jonathan Vos Post — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 18:16:02 +0000

As the owner of a rare double B.S. in Mathematics and English Literature from Caltech (1973), this notion struck home.

Not as painfully, I should add, as the time that I was at the “10 items or less” line at a Pasadena grocery store, with roughly 17 items plunked down near the cash register. I was wearing a Caltech sweatshirt.

“Are you an English Major who can’t count,” asked the cashier, “or a Math major who can’t read?”

By: michael

michael — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 20:55:32 +0000

I suppose that I would like them more if I were any good at them, but I am in Walt “adjoint functors are bunk” Pohl’s camp on this one.

By: Walt

Walt — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 15:29:19 +0000

I know this a minority opinion, but I don’t really like the idea of math competitions. I always refused to do things like the Putnam, for example. I don’t mind competition in general, but I dislike it for things of intrinsic importance.

By: Alexandre Borovik

Alexandre Borovik — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 08:49:36 +0000

I do not feel that the proportion set in the comment by tdstephens3 is well balanced. I would formulate it in a bit more careful way:

Mathematicians arenâ€™t born from log table memorizing competitions in the same way that poets do not grow out of spelling bees.

Basically, spelling bees have nothing to do with poetry, while a decent maths competition problem most definitely belongs to mathematics.

And maths competitions are not spelling bees!

By: Mikael Johansson

Mikael Johansson — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 08:24:11 +0000

Also Terence Tao is famous for his history with and later engagement for the mathematical olympiads.

By: serg

serg — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 06:31:13 +0000

However Perelman had grown out of school math competitions and mathematical olympiads…