[throwawaymath]

This exchange is a good demonstration that the word "trivial" has lost its meaning in the same way "literal" has. Much like I usually hear someone use term "literally" for figurative emphasis, these days I mostly hear the word "trivial" used to describe something which is clearly nontrivial.

Math textbooks have been doing this for decades, but it's leaked into common parlance with online discussion.

[ezequiel-garzon]

I believe in the mathematical community the potentially offensive term for outsiders is non-trivial, used in a technically correct manner, but oftentimes applied as synonymous of epically hard, which unexpectedly throws people off, especially the author of that non-trivial work!

[CogitoCogito]

I think the best translation of "trivial" when used amongst mathematicians is that it is something you should be able to figure out with your current knowledge without too much difficulty (though it might require an hour of thought). Said in another way, you don't need to learn/develop new tools or techniques for something that is trivial.

Of course this is not when most people think when they hear the word so really it's a term of art that should probably be avoided when talking to non-mathematicians.

[Ntrails]

> I think the best translation of "trivial" when used amongst mathematicians is that it is something you should be able to figure out with your current knowledge without too much difficulty

As i read through my old uni maths notes there are often wild leaps from a to e along with a little scrawl saying "trivially" or "obviously". They may have been true once, but god dammit 21 year old me was a knobber