Post Aj1jtECVmEdMJivK8e by lain_7@tldr.nettime.org
(DIR) More posts by lain_7@tldr.nettime.org
(DIR) Post #Aj07OuUAWRwR4GL4YS by SmudgeTheInsultCat@mas.to
2024-06-16T22:25:56Z
34 likes, 30 repeats
(DIR) Post #Aj18wLDYRrkye025rc by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-17T11:42:05Z
2 likes, 2 repeats
@SmudgeTheInsultCat I have a less ominous version of this tale. When studying for quals I put all of the theorems in analysis I might need to prove in a little hand-written booklet (about 5x8cm) so I could quiz myself on the subway. These theorems became my whole world. I was staring at a proof when a man, puzzled by my state of concentration, asked “are those… your prayers?”I was disoriented by the interruption. But on a moment’s swift reflection I could only answer: “Yes.”
(DIR) Post #Aj197scQbVUfQCAYOu by Woodswalked@mstdn.party
2024-06-17T11:43:59Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird Praise Euler!cc: @SmudgeTheInsultCat
(DIR) Post #Aj19rjMRMAxw1tYQgi by llewelly@sauropods.win
2024-06-17T11:52:26Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@futurebird @SmudgeTheInsultCat once, when I was in college, I was doing differential equations homework on the bus, and I was asked if I was writing in Hebrew. Which was hugely baffling, because differential equations do not look at all like Hebrew. (At least, not to me.) When I said so, he replied "How do you know?". At that point, I started laughing helplessly, which did't help. Conveniently, at that point the bus approached my stop.
(DIR) Post #Aj1Aa4afmql4c6M71s by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-17T12:00:28Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@llewelly @SmudgeTheInsultCat geeeeez Well be thankful you weren’t studying the cardinality of infinite sets ℵ0 and ℵ1 and all that. How could you ever have explained that??
(DIR) Post #Aj1AwnLU4MoNn15NTM by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-17T12:04:26Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@llewelly @SmudgeTheInsultCat Mathematics gobbles alphabets. Makes capitals and lower case different symbols. It swallowed greek whole. Munched on gothic letters. It took a little nibble of Hebrew and will be back for more later I expect.
(DIR) Post #Aj1B9cyHx3E7NaM5pY by llewelly@sauropods.win
2024-06-17T12:06:56Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird @SmudgeTheInsultCat yeah - since we did cover aleph numbers and cardinality of infinite sets in at least one of my other math classes, it was more or less luck that it wasn't that. But then, I think I probably did far more differential equations homework sets.
(DIR) Post #Aj1BaN6R3gtjyyv0iW by hllizi@hespere.de
2024-06-17T12:11:44Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird @SmudgeTheInsultCat that's beautiful
(DIR) Post #Aj1BgDm6eVKCn3COvY by mattmcirvin@mathstodon.xyz
2024-06-17T12:12:45Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird @llewelly @SmudgeTheInsultCat Mathematicians have a traditional aversion to multi-character symbols, except for a few things like important functions. When you do that you have to expand your character set massively. Computer languages were usually initially restricted to tiny Latin-based character sets and had to bite that bullet, though there were a few like APL that still refused.
(DIR) Post #Aj1BlHerds6aHWE3EW by hllizi@hespere.de
2024-06-17T12:13:42Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird @llewelly @SmudgeTheInsultCat it's appetite is without limit and when it has consumed the last Alphabet it will index them all over and over again.
(DIR) Post #Aj1jtECVmEdMJivK8e by lain_7@tldr.nettime.org
2024-06-17T18:11:26Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird @llewelly @SmudgeTheInsultCat There’s always Chinese characters. Even if you restrict yourself to the radicals, you have 250+ distinct characters, ~200 with 8 or fewer strokes.Some of those might even be mnemonic (木, tree, might see a lot of use in parsing or graphs).
(DIR) Post #Aj1mjfhayMGCZsb6no by barrygoldman1@sauropods.win
2024-06-17T17:16:07Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird @SmudgeTheInsultCat Simone Weil actually has things to say about this! i mean, concentrating on a math proof hard enough isn't THAT dissimular from many forms of prayer
(DIR) Post #Aj1ozhNahgx2K00izA by gjm@mathstodon.xyz
2024-06-17T14:09:11Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@hananc @llewelly @futurebird @SmudgeTheInsultCat I have heard it claimed that in China they say something like "it is the language of heaven". I don't know whether that's true (it seems a bit too much like the sort of thing someone not-Chinese might think the Chinese would say).Relatedly, I wonder whether the graph is acyclic. That is, does it ever happen that country A regards country B's language as stereotypically incomprehensible, and country B thinks the same about country C, etc., until eventually we end up back with A again?
(DIR) Post #Aj1ozjivzJDDam0nWy by gjm@mathstodon.xyz
2024-06-17T14:12:20Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@hananc @llewelly @futurebird @SmudgeTheInsultCat The graph at https://flowingdata.com/2015/04/14/its-all-greek-or-chinese-or-spanish-or-to-me/ suggests that at least some Chinese speakers use English in their version of this idiom, which if I'm reading their graph correctly makes English -> Greek -> Chinese -> English a possible cycle.
(DIR) Post #AjA6wtc3u4ODs4hezo by lilacperegrine@clockwork.monster
2024-06-21T19:32:05Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird @llewelly @SmudgeTheInsultCat I wonder if Mandarin could be a good source of characters. There are certainly a lot of them!
(DIR) Post #AjE80U0DBnB8kn1hy4 by doonxib@poa.st
2024-06-23T18:02:28.137147Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@SmudgeTheInsultCat Based