[sfriedr]

> I thought of reaching for Mathematica but resorted to pencil and paper, like a barbarian.

A very computer-science perspective with the obligatory dose of hubris.

Pencil and paper is continuing to serve a much older, much more consolidated discipline (mathematics) well for... ever since paper was invented.

[sterlind]

the barbarian bit was tongue-in-cheek. it's just that symbolic algebra is one of those old-school, classic use cases for computers, like playing chess or guiding missiles or scheduling routes. I enjoy those kinds of moments.