Tuesday, October 17, 2006
JSH: Math IS difficult
Doing real mathematical research tests your sanity, patience, stamina and tolerance for failure as much and more so than it tests your intellect.
That corrected demonstration is an example of extreme mathematics at work, but it's also an example of how difficult and trying it can be to find proof.
What still puzzles me though is, how do I get so close at early stages? How did I get this approach from so far away and come close, but miss yesterday, only to get it right today?
That mystery is part of what makes the process of discovery so fascinating.
How is it done?
And why didn't anyone in the world step up to correct the argument?
If any of you had done so you could have become famous, immediately, with little effort, so why not?
That isn't meant to be insulting but to get you thinking about what it takes, the years of effort and study it takes to be open to a correct mathematical solution.
Not only did no one else in the world step up to correct my flawed first demonstration where 2 was just the wrong prime to use, but there were posters still being mocking, ridiculing, and antagonistic, when the end was so close—just another day away.
What I want to do is inspire you to real mathematical discovery by also scaring you a bit as I want you to understand that the travails I went through are not abnormal in that to be a real mathematicians you must be able to face more than you ever dreamed, to stand when no one else will, and to believe…in logic, the power of proof, and in the innate order of the world.
I say, question that person who gets accolades from crowds without having been booed and humiliated. Wonder about that person who is supposedly a success, who hasn't been at some time or other called a crushing failure.
You must pass through the fire, to have the worthless stuff burned out of you.
And believe me, it must be burned out of you.
That corrected demonstration is an example of extreme mathematics at work, but it's also an example of how difficult and trying it can be to find proof.
What still puzzles me though is, how do I get so close at early stages? How did I get this approach from so far away and come close, but miss yesterday, only to get it right today?
That mystery is part of what makes the process of discovery so fascinating.
How is it done?
And why didn't anyone in the world step up to correct the argument?
If any of you had done so you could have become famous, immediately, with little effort, so why not?
That isn't meant to be insulting but to get you thinking about what it takes, the years of effort and study it takes to be open to a correct mathematical solution.
Not only did no one else in the world step up to correct my flawed first demonstration where 2 was just the wrong prime to use, but there were posters still being mocking, ridiculing, and antagonistic, when the end was so close—just another day away.
What I want to do is inspire you to real mathematical discovery by also scaring you a bit as I want you to understand that the travails I went through are not abnormal in that to be a real mathematicians you must be able to face more than you ever dreamed, to stand when no one else will, and to believe…in logic, the power of proof, and in the innate order of the world.
I say, question that person who gets accolades from crowds without having been booed and humiliated. Wonder about that person who is supposedly a success, who hasn't been at some time or other called a crushing failure.
You must pass through the fire, to have the worthless stuff burned out of you.
And believe me, it must be burned out of you.
# posted by James Harris @ 23:18 
