| > 1st person voice is discouraged "Here we make use of measurable selection." So, use of the first person, plural is
quite widely accepted in nearly all of
current and recent mathematics. I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation this way,
and one professor said "When you
say 'we' maybe I don't agree?"
and thankfully a fellow student
spoke right up and defended me;
she explained that using "we"
was standard in mathematics. Once I was trying to socialize with
a high school English teacher and
sent her a draft of a paper I
was about to publish in some
applied mathematics and asked her
to give the paper a critical reading.
Soon she asked me if using
"we" was standard in mathematics,
and I had to say yes. She
gave me no more feedback! Gee,
that's much better than what I
got from English teachers in
high school and college! In the end, I first learned to write
in college and
by writing proofs in pure mathematics;
the reason I was able to soak up
the lessons was that such writing, as
English, is so darned simple. Later
I branched out from such
simplistic writing. Later I was trying to socialize
with a woman who was a secretary
in a university. She confessed that,
in her experience typing, etc.,
the really clear writing was from
the professors of mathematics
and the physical sciences. Maybe
she was just trying to butter me up! |