It blows my mind how concisely and clearly scholars of mathematics write (on general subjects, nit mathematics. I can’t evaluate how well they write on mathematics). There are many people in English, Comparative Literature, Philosophy and History who should take writing classes from them.
8 responses to “Impressed by Mathematicians”
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I think being concise and clear results from their math training which demands those things at every step.
May be, humanity majors would benefit from several required courses on logic and math, where they would’ve to learn writing a few simple math / logical proofs. One learns this way that every word must be in its place exactly, and that one superfluous or wrong word may destroy the entire proof.
A good practice for humanities, where sometimes even published scholars use unnecessary repetitions and too many words for the idea hiding in them.
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So true! And especially when scholars write in Spanish, which tends to be very florid and verbose. One has to go through miles and miles of empty verbiage to arrive at a very modest point.
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In mathematics, you can’t make a career with verbiage. In many other fields, it’s possible. For example, we have in Québec Mathieu Bock-Côté who is recognized as great sociologist because of its well-written verbiage and its reactionary xenophobic views, not because of any sociological science value.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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