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Abstract algebra for developers and people who hate math

poincare101.blogspot.com

11–20 of 56 posts

Re: Abstract algebra for developers and people who hate math

#14
post #5

Nice read, and nice example of specialization: Simply putting "for developers" in the title surely helped this article get so high on HN, though there's no application of computer science or programming to make the article more tailored for developers. I don't want to sound snarky by any means, as I did genuinely enjoy the article, but it's neat to see marketing 101 in action: Simply picking and acknowledging an audi…

Added :) I sort of forgot at the end of the article.

Re: Abstract algebra for developers and people who hate math

#15
post #9

People who hate math aren't going to be inspired by a collection of axioms and equations. Nor are they likely to be wowed by the examples of matrices and vectors. Some examples from geometry, or permutations, might be more likely to teach the concepts. People who know something about math are going to spot several errors in the presentation. For example, the reals with multiplication don't form a group, since 0 has n…

Upvoted. Very true, and thanks for the mistakes and stuff. I'll fix the ones I can, and I'm adding some more stuff that actually relates to CS.

Are you also going to fix the assertion that matrices form a group under multiplication? (They don't: not all matrices have inverses. The general linear group is what you are probably looking for.) It's a bit embarrassing that of your three examples of groups, only one is actually a group...

Re: Abstract algebra for developers and people who hate math

#16
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Upvoted. Very true, and thanks for the mistakes and stuff. I'll fix the ones I can, and I'm adding some more stuff that actually relates to CS.

Are you also going to fix the assertion that matrices form a group under multiplication? (They don't: not all matrices have inverses. The general linear group is what you are probably looking for.) It's a bit embarrassing that of your three examples of groups, only one is actually a group...

Sorry, again. I'm really trying my best to keep it all correct, but, I do make mistakes.

Re: Abstract algebra for developers and people who hate math

#18
post #9

People who hate math aren't going to be inspired by a collection of axioms and equations. Nor are they likely to be wowed by the examples of matrices and vectors. Some examples from geometry, or permutations, might be more likely to teach the concepts. People who know something about math are going to spot several errors in the presentation. For example, the reals with multiplication don't form a group, since 0 has n…

[deleted]

Re: Abstract algebra for developers and people who hate math

#20

Nice content! Thanks for putting it in more easy words. If I could give you a suggestion, a better way of showing it could be better. Like some slides, or colors. Something that made more friendly to read. Although the content is good, scanning it do not made me want to read right way. Anyway, thanks!

Although the content is good, scanning it do not made me want to read right way.

This is the exact feeling I have and were it not for the HN comments, I would have closed it without actually reading the content.

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