31–40 of 114 posts
7. Being precise. The precision you hold yourself to through a rigorous approach to a problem is also very valuable and is the reason I think calculus is very important.
Calculus doesn't have any true rigour/precision. That's why it's not analysis.
Couldn't this also be titled "Habits of high rational people", with mathematics simply being one application? I'm not a mathematician and was miserable at math in school, but I apply these habits in the business world every day. They help me cut through a lot of crap that comes from other people's sloppy/lazy thinking. >Anyone who has gone through an undergraduate math education has known a person (or been that perso…
> I'm not a mathematician and was miserable at math in school Maths in school is not really like the maths that mathematicians do.
Couldn't this also be titled "Habits of high rational people", with mathematics simply being one application? I'm not a mathematician and was miserable at math in school, but I apply these habits in the business world every day. They help me cut through a lot of crap that comes from other people's sloppy/lazy thinking. >Anyone who has gone through an undergraduate math education has known a person (or been that perso…
It's why economists are terrible hedge fund managers and not mathematicians. It's why all these script kiddie programmers at silicon valley are terrible.
Tell me ... when you are mathematical, you cannot be wrong in all worlds.
Couldn't this also be titled "Habits of high rational people", with mathematics simply being one application? I'm not a mathematician and was miserable at math in school, but I apply these habits in the business world every day. They help me cut through a lot of crap that comes from other people's sloppy/lazy thinking. >Anyone who has gone through an undergraduate math education has known a person (or been that perso…
Nice spot on. The described qualities would also apply to philosophers, logicians, etc. I think a broader term would be, habits of highly "analytical" people.
For example, many of the moral dilemmas that get tossed around as interesting become trivial to answer once you give a mathematically rigorous definition to words like "good", "moral", "utilitarian" or whatever.
Couldn't this also be titled "Habits of high rational people", with mathematics simply being one application? I'm not a mathematician and was miserable at math in school, but I apply these habits in the business world every day. They help me cut through a lot of crap that comes from other people's sloppy/lazy thinking. >Anyone who has gone through an undergraduate math education has known a person (or been that perso…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'm not a mathematician and was miserable at math in school Maths in school is not really like the maths that mathematicians do.
True, but if you're not good at school math, I believe there is little hope you can be good at the style of math that mathematicians do...
There's a huge difference between reasoning about abstract statements and arithmetic calculation, even when it comes to abstract statements about arithmetic. I'm not saying there's no correlation, but the conditioned probability in the direction of bad at arithmetic => bad at mathematical reasoning is probably much lower than you'd expect.
At the very least, I'd encourage those that are bad at arithmetic to not assume they will be bad at mathematics or data science. If I had, I'd be much worse off and less happy than I am now with math in my life :)
Very good article. I might add that a further pitfall in being "highly mathematical" is when you assume that the person you are communicating with is also "highly mathematical" and therefore has similar habits. That's not true MOST OF THE TIME and can lead therefore to severe misunderstandings.