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Let L be a group. I actually guffawed at that one. I am SO going to use that.
Isn't SO a special orthogonal group, as in the rotational symmetries? Are we in the presence of a really obscure pun?
Because then we can just let L be a Lie(ing) group :)
tl;dr: They were down there talking about math one afternoon and the owner of the deli was trying to take the order from one of them and he was a little bit too preoccupied with mathematics to fully engage in the sandwich ordering process.
One actually doesn't have to read more than this tl;dr, since the interview in the article is tedious and takes forever to get to the point
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Typically, you'd use G when picking a variable name for a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_(mathematics) The equivalent programmer joke might be something like "int str;" or "string array_length;" It's kind of funny in the "oh that's a really bad joke" kind of way :)
"Let ε Or a similar but more blatant telling of the original joke would be "Let ℵ₀ be a group."
tl;dr: They were down there talking about math one afternoon and the owner of the deli was trying to take the order from one of them and he was a little bit too preoccupied with mathematics to fully engage in the sandwich ordering process.
The sign is humorous, but the article is entirely too long for the subject.
Mathematicians can have a focus (and corresponding lack of real-world awareness) that puts even us engineers to shame. Once as an undergrad I was taking a class in the math building, and there was a professor blocking the door because he was reading a flyer taped to it about an upcoming symposium or something. I coughed a little to indicate I was there, and he turned, acknowledged my presence, and then went right bac…
And then he ended up mentoring an entire generation of mathematicians who adopted his habit.
And everyone would always "randomly" pick 3. It became a thing.
It's kind of a variant on the "let L be a group" because the joke relies entirely on the social conventions of a small group of people.
Does anyone remember the story about the famous mathematician at (I think) Princeton, who would always pick 3 as a random number in his examples. ("Let's pick a random number, say 3...") And then he ended up mentoring an entire generation of mathematicians who adopted his habit. And everyone would always "randomly" pick 3. It became a thing. It's kind of a variant on the "let L be a group" because the joke relies ent…
Mathematicians can have a focus (and corresponding lack of real-world awareness) that puts even us engineers to shame. Once as an undergrad I was taking a class in the math building, and there was a professor blocking the door because he was reading a flyer taped to it about an upcoming symposium or something. I coughed a little to indicate I was there, and he turned, acknowledged my presence, and then went right bac…
I feel like they should count for less points in Nerd Sniping. https://xkcd.com/356/