Re:What does 0^0 equal? Why do mathematicians and high schoo...
by kalid on Wednesday August 24, 2011 @06:19PM
(#2922699)
Thanks for the pointer! I found Needham's book awesome, I've barely made a dent in it but love the visualizations.
I don't think visualization is the only intuitive method -- you can have a general "sense", not sure how to put it more specifically -- I have a "sense" about growth of e without a specific diagram.
Agreed that not every concept can be understood... yet. There's a quote I love to rail on, in reference to Euler's formula:
"It is absolutely paradoxical; we cannot understand it, and we don't know what it means, but we have proved it, and therefore we know it must be the truth." (Benjamin Peirce, 19th-century Mathematician)
Really? Yes, it may be baffling at first, but we can _never_ understand it? Only if that's our attitude :).
I don't think visualization is the only intuitive method -- you can have a general "sense", not sure how to put it more specifically -- I have a "sense" about growth of e without a specific diagram.
Agreed that not every concept can be understood... yet. There's a quote I love to rail on, in reference to Euler's formula:
"It is absolutely paradoxical; we cannot understand it, and we don't know what it means, but we have proved it, and therefore we know it must be the truth." (Benjamin Peirce, 19th-century Mathematician)
Really? Yes, it may be baffling at first, but we can _never_ understand it? Only if that's our attitude :).