Re:Number theorist fears many proofs widely considered to be...
by lolc on Sunday September 29, 2019 @02:53PM
(#21108919)
People struggle with monads because it's a two-step process to learn them: Learn their mathematical properties, then learn how to apply them as a pattern. That's not a quick process you can do in half an hour. It doesn't help that the concept is alien to everyday processes. So yeah, analogy doesn't get you far with monads.
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Re:Number theorist fears many proofs widely considered to be...
by chongli on Sunday September 29, 2019 @03:59PM
(#21109303)
I think most monad tutorials skip over the math and try to teach people the applications and I think this is why people don’t get very far. But then people are probably not ready for the math if they haven’t gone beyond high school algebra. Very few high school students learn about abstract algebra topics such as group theory unless they’re studying on their own.
Aside: as with monads, group theory has many disparate applications, from solving Rubik’s cubes [1] to particle physics [2] to crystallography [3]. Trying to teach someone group theory using only a Rubik’s cube may not be the best idea, in light of the abstract nature of the structure.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubik%27s_Cube_group
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle_physics_and_represent...
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystallographic_point_group