[ysofunny]

naming things is hard

is one of the cultural difference between a computer-first logical mindset contrasted with the mathematics-first mindset

the mathematics first mentality does not properly recognize the importance and the difficulty of having good names for things, whereas the computological view recognizes both: the importance and the difficulty

[chatmasta]

Insofar as naming things is basically applied category theory, I'd trust a mathematician to name a set of products more tersely and understandably than I would an English major.

[iopq]

A math major named this monitor:

https://www.viewsonic.com/eu/products/sheet/VX2758-2KP-MHD

[chatmasta]

It's unique and easily searchable when I want documentation specific to that product. And when deciding which monitor to buy, I can focus on comparing the technical specifications rather than relying on some heuristics based on how the name "feels" to me.

[iopq]

I would rather name it the 2020-27in-QHD-IPS-144Hz

[yakshaving_jgt]

…I don't understand? VX2758-2KP-MHD is a fairly commonly used word in the Polish language.

[sirsinsalot]

It is even my surname!

[ysofunny]

I'm running a contest in my head: "which academic discipline can transfer more information with less text"

so far it's a close race between philosophers and mathematicians. I'll take your comment as a vote in favor of mathematicians

[chatmasta]

I don't think philosophers should even be in the running for this title. They write way too many words when few do trick.

[ysofunny]

but talking is part of the contest (I should not have said it was about "text"; nonetheless academia still maintains an oral tradition in teaching and thesis defenses)

so while written philosophy is verbose, philosophers talking can "transfer" a lot of "meaning" with short sentence

whereas mathematicians will likely need to talk for a very long time for what they can write down in a short terse equation

[thfuran]

Who do the few words trick? Why do the philosophers wait for that before writing their many words?

[sirsinsalot]

Classical musicians. Lots of information with very few symbols nevermind text.

[pitherpather]

> naming things is hard

Of tangential interest: I recently heard that Faraday, while discovering new electromagnetic phenomenon, then turned to either a linguist or classicist for help in assigning/inventing terms for them. (I cannot find a link for this just now, so consider this heresay.)

[thfuran]

How many mathematicians do you know? All the mathematicians I know are interested in both notational and linguistic clarity.

[ysofunny]

lucky you, all the mathematics proessors I've had scarcely know how to work a computer

another cultural difference is the kind of homework they hand out; the difference boils down to whether you hand over a printed (or printable) proof checked by reading through it, or a runnable program or script checked by running it

[smabie]

What does this have to do with naming things