Re:Mathics: A free, open-source alternative to Mathematica
by qubex on Saturday November 05, 2022 @02:52AM
(#33478677)
Mathematics is one of the oldest disciplines in the world. Grumbling about the legacy of its ancient history as ‘gatekeeping’ is puerile.
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Re:Mathics: A free, open-source alternative to Mathematica
by Beldin on Saturday November 05, 2022 @04:38AM
(#33479279)
This started worth talking about notation. Notation of mathematics has changed significantly over time - Newton's Principae is not readable without accounting for changes. In the history of maths, that is a fairly recent work.
Re:Mathics: A free, open-source alternative to Mathematica
by qubex on Saturday November 05, 2022 @04:43AM
(#33479311)
I actually agree with your premise: mathematics and it’s notations (plural) are ancient. The current notations are those that were found to be most convenient by centuries of practice by expert practitioners.
Re:Mathics: A free, open-source alternative to Mathematica
by tikej on Saturday November 05, 2022 @06:34AM
(#33480066)
This is of course very true but doesn’t take into account invention of computer that is relatively recent.
Since it in principle never makes mistakes (in practice there are of course bugs, but they are usually different in nature than human errors) it changes what is possible and most convenient. You no longer have to optimise for simplicity as heavily for example. On the other hand computers basically can’t deal with ambiguity, so the rules and statements have to be stated very simply and clearly.
I believe computers can change the landscape of what’s best notation. This is an interesting, interdisciplinary topic to explore.