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Proofs and explanations are not always the same. Proofs depend on logic and rigor, while explanations depend on the audience. Mathematics and pedagogy are not usually considered to be closely related areas of study. And yet universities make mathematicians teach mathematics. Are they the best teachers? No. No, they are not. But they are the only ones that understand the subject matter well enough to do it. And that leads to the vicious cycle where you have to think like a mathematician in order to learn math from one, because they have difficulty explaining anything to any other type of person. A student that needs an explanation gets a proof, which is technically correct, but still fails to elucidate. I think some kinds of math are fun and interesting, but proving the math is [currently] less than 1% of my job, and I have never had to worry about precision that would underflow a 64-bit floating point double. Take another look at the whole thread tree, originating at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15236430 , and look at the posts by "zelah". Realize that all the responses made them realize that they got something wrong somewhere, but it looks like they are still as confused as ever, and probably net negative karma from being wrong on the Internet and not knowing why. My original goal was to help zelah understand, and I failed. My secondary goal was to play the game alluded to by lisper, who essentially said I cheated. There is nothing left for me to accomplish here. I wasn't trying to be pissy and storm out the door in a cloud of drama, but rereading, it seems like that's probably the simplest interpretation of my last post. So... sorry for that. I'm still not writing you any theorems. |