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by yakubin 1638 days ago
> Pure mathematicians don't use computers or even think of them in their work, for the most part.

That's not true. Many pure mathematicians use programs such as Wolfram Mathematica and Macaulay2 in their work. (Source: I studied maths and I know a bunch of them personally.)

1 comments

Agreed. The OP's assertion is questionable.

I don't know how good of a mathematician I am, but I've certainly used computers in all sorts of ways: CAS, plots, numerical experiments, wikis/blogs/QA sites... You use whatever you can.

Proof assistants are having a bit of a breakthrough as well, while previously they were associated with "inelegant" proofs or non-mainstream stuff for mathematicians.

Mandelbrot talked about an anti-computer snobbery that permeated mathematical culture in university mathematics departments in the '70s, and how he overcame it and produced the famous Mandelbrot set.