Monumental (if correct) advance in number theory posted to ArXiv by Yitang Zhang

Post by hnfong » Tue, Nov 08, 2022, 4:50 PM UTC

thrwoiu4o2343 wrote: post #261

sb057 wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Cultural Revolution" is actually a very apt name for what happened. One of the core concepts of it was the destruction of the "four olds": old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits. They were horrifyingly efficient at it, resulting in what was one of the single-largest destructions of cultural heritage in history, and almost certainly the largest one perpetuated by one's own people (albeit the original ico…

Everyone in Asia did or is doing the same thing. Meiji did this in Japan, to the point where many B. temples were burnt down (thankfully not as bad as Mao), and the whole of Japan's culture considered obsolete. KMT boys were doing the same thing in China before Mao. Nehru and his Congress cretins who inherited the British state, did the same, and India continues these "destroy Bharata" policies to this day. In fact,…

Post by psb » Tue, Nov 08, 2022, 5:20 PM UTC

fredley wrote: post #295

zimpenfish wrote: post #260

Brings to mind Gould's quote - "I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops." https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/99345-i-am-somehow-less-int...

I think about this often. Having studied mathematics, it's a field where there is a huge range of talents, even at 18 (and younger). There are genuinely gifted people who stride ahead, but the sad reality is that even at top institutions most of the undergraduate cohort will be merely averagely clever people who have received great (often private) tuition. In a field where finding every genius really matters because…

Post by rosywoozlechan » Tue, Nov 08, 2022, 6:16 PM UTC

arrow7000 wrote: post #336

rosywoozlechan wrote: post #215

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Why is this :( though? The market is working and filling a market opportunity. Maybe he likes running his own business? Unless he was being discriminated against for being a Russian immigrant and treated unfairly?

Because the world would be better off having people of that calibre making progress on outstanding problems in maths than having one more mediocre restaurant in it

Post by arrow7000 » Tue, Nov 08, 2022, 6:42 PM UTC

rosywoozlechan wrote: post #395

arrow7000 wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the world would be better off having people of that calibre making progress on outstanding problems in maths than having one more mediocre restaurant in it

ok, you're insulting the guy's restaurant and the market disagrees with you, apparently

Post by rcarr » Tue, Nov 08, 2022, 6:53 PM UTC

RugnirViking wrote: post #371

rcarr wrote: post #368

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This! Identical situation in the UK from my experience. Why maths is taught completely separated from its history and its purpose is baffling. Well actually it’s not: it’s because it serves the teachers. You hammer the formulas and patterns into the kids so they can pass the exams. Your school gets good grades and the principal is happy because he can now market his school as successful and the government inspectors…

> because it serves the teachers I don't think this is the case. I think it's because the teachers themselves don't have a good grasp on "the story of maths and how it benefitted society". There is a silly meme about asking high school maths teachers "how will we use this in life", and imo it's not because there isn't a good response, but rather that it requires a good understanding of the ways math is actually used.…