Monday, March 15, 2004

 

Abstract Algebra Question, Please Help!

I received an email from Dik Winter proclaiming that he would not remove my writing from his webpage, and he claims he is not violating international copyright laws.

Dik Winter is in the Netherlands, and I think his bravado is based on confidence that he's safe in his country from worries about such petty things as copyright, but I want you all to consider his behavior in context.

For instance, Dik Winter's argument would mean that he can take Ben Peterson's post here, and put it on his own webpage.

pete2498@umn.edu (Ben Peterson) wrote in message news:<db51065.0403142157.69d407f5@posting.google.com>...
> On a recent homework assignment, we were given the following question:
>
> If, in a ring, each element equals its SQUARE, show that
> multiplication must be commutative.
>
> To which I answered:
>
> 0 = 0
> abab-ababa-abab+ababa = baba-baba-ababa+ababa
> abab-ababa-abaab+abaaba = baba-baaba-ababa+abaaba
> (ab-aba)^2 = (ba-aba)^2
> ab-aba = ba-aba
> ab = ba
>

On that webpage he might comment on Ben Peterson's lack of grasp of this or that, or say that maybe Ben Peterson just has issues which is why he's stupid enough to post on Usenet, when anyone can copy his post to their webpage, and comment about it.

> But now we've been assigned this similar question:
>
> If, in a ring, each element equals its CUBE, show that multiplication
> must be commutative.
>
> And I am baffled. Anyone got any hints?

Or, someone could just wait until they knew Ben Peterson, and possibly was in conflict with him or fighting for a job promotion or who knows what, and thought it might help to rattle him by putting up this post, where he's asking question—hey YEARS from now it might be relevant—to push the case that he isn't an independent thinker and relies to heavily on the opinion of others.

A Dik Winter might then argue that Ben Peterson has waived any rights to keep his post from being put on webpages because he posted on Usenet.

And when Ben Peterson emailed him to cry foul, he might email back from the Netherlands basically laughing in his face, thinking that in the Netherlands, copyrights don't matter.

Usenet is obviously just a place where people can cruise for neat things to put on their webpages, right?





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