Timeline for Simple but serious problems for the edification of non-mathematicians
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 1, 2011 at 5:06 | comment | added | David Feldman | @ Michael The Ogilvy and the Honsberger are fundamentally different books. Ogilvy emphasizes theories (inversive geometry, projective geometry) from which theorems drop out - in that sense it seems "modern" and pre-professional. Honsberger just develops these wonderful, elegant, but seemingly ad hoc results. Ogilvy:Honsberger:: Chewable vitamins : exotic desserts. | |
| Feb 1, 2011 at 4:41 | comment | added | Daniel Litt | Fair enough--I guess I'll read the book! | |
| Feb 1, 2011 at 4:39 | comment | added | David Feldman | @Daniel All I can say is that I'd probably agree with you...if I'd never seen the book. But actually, I think categories do have a lot to say to an English major (think about characters and plots, etc.) for roughly the same reason they have a lot to say to computer scientists interested in the semantics of programming languages. But developing that point would probably better be done over lunch than in a MO comment. :) | |
| Feb 1, 2011 at 4:09 | comment | added | Daniel Litt | @David Feldman: While I agree with the sentiments of almost everything you write, and while I haven't read "Conceptual Mathematics," I notice that on Amazon its subtitle is "A First Introduction to Categories." I think that the language of categories, as much as I value it, is unlikely to do anything other than annoy the average (even quite intelligent) English major--do you disagree? | |
| Feb 1, 2011 at 4:05 | comment | added | Michael Hardy | In the realm of what you call proof-oriented spectator mathematics, there is a very beautiful book by Stanley Ogilvy called Excursions in Geometry, that a 15-year-old who knows next to nothing can read and enjoy. (I read it when I was 14 or 15.) Non-mathematically inclined undergraduates intensely hate that book. | |
| Feb 1, 2011 at 3:56 | history | made wiki | Post Made Community Wiki by S. Carnahan♦ | ||
| Feb 1, 2011 at 3:39 | history | answered | David Feldman | CC BY-SA 2.5 |