most recent 30 from http://mathoverflow.net 2013-05-21T04:29:33Z http://mathoverflow.net/feeds/user/2129 http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/rdf http://mathoverflow.net/questions/1083/do-good-math-jokes-exist/7072#7072 Elizabeth Henning 2009-11-28T19:35:33Z 2011-04-03T01:53:49Z

<p>Don't remember where I saw this, but as a woman in mathematics, it tickles me no end:</p> <p>A poet, a priest, and a mathematician are discussing whether it's better to have a wife or a mistress. </p> <p>The poet argues that it's better to have a mistress because love should be free and spontaneous. </p> <p>The priest argues that it's better to have a wife because love should be sanctified by God. </p> <p>The mathematician says, "I think it's better to have both. That way, when each of them thinks you're with the other, you can do some mathematics."</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/7120/too-old-for-advanced-mathematics/7170#7170 Elizabeth Henning 2009-11-29T20:47:23Z 2009-11-29T20:47:23Z

<p>First of all, bitrex, of course you're not too old, and it's probably your imagination that you're slower now than you were at 18. What's more likely is that you now have a better awareness of what you're missing, so it seems slower, even though I'll bet that you're actually learning better. "Cognitive decline" (or at least any decline which would affect doing mathematics) doesn't set in until your 60s, and even then it's highly variable.</p> <p>I think it's sad that anyone feels this question even needs to be asked. One of the things I find most frustrating about mathematical culture is how impressed everyone is when good mathematics is done by younger people, as though your age appeared next to your work, like in a grade-school art contest. I really hope the Chern Medal supplants the Fields as the premier prize--I think providing something aspirational to over-40 mathematicians will have a very salutary effect on the field as a whole, to say nothing of the salutary effect it will have on a lot of individual over-40 psyches.</p> <p>But here's something odd that I've noticed: the mythology about "older mathematicians" seems to cut women more slack. I guess sexism can cut both ways.</p>

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/1083/do-good-math-jokes-exist/7072#7072 Elizabeth Henning 2011-04-03T01:55:22Z 2011-04-03T01:55:22Z

Actually, that reminds me of a joke my mother tells: Q. What's the difference between deer nuts and beer nuts? A. Beer nuts are a dollar fifty, but deer nuts are under a dollar! Maybe it's hereditary.

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/1083/do-good-math-jokes-exist/7072#7072 Elizabeth Henning 2011-04-03T01:53:17Z 2011-04-03T01:53:17Z

you mean a lawyer isn't the same thing as a mathematician?