Re:In Mathematics, It Often Takes a Good Map to Find Answers
by ZenOfTheArt on Wednesday June 03, 2020 @04:26PM
(#23408226)
A Fitch derivation of the existence of the intersection of all members of a nonempty set is a better place to start because it can be done in less than ten sheets of paper longhand. The ratio of triviality to pages consumed is quite shocking when you finally confront it. It is at that point that you realize intuition has no formal translation but is vital since the level of detail seems to blur and darken intuition when holding a proof to the standard of formal derivation rather than the ordinary informal standard. So far, I’ve seen relatively little interest in mathematical intuition or even honest appraisal of what it is or how mathematicians should develop it. Rather the trend seems to be pretending that mathematical intuition doesn’t exist and treating formalization as a no-op. I think this is due to an anti-intellectual atmosphere that views mathematics as a source of problems for the military as opposed to pastimes for civilians.
Furthermore, this excessive mathematical structure hides the physical assumptions that really drive the validity of these equations. A real string doesn't actually obey the wave equation perfectly. The reason has to do with physical aspects of the string itself, not minutiae in the mathematical derivation of the wave equation. I can't think of an example where progress in physics was stalled because somebody tried to divide both sides of an equation by T and failed...