Re:Hundred Pages vs. 11 Words
by riwsky on Tuesday February 20, 2024 @02:16AM
(#39438774)
This prose desperately needs an editor and a rewrite pass, which would be unremarkable in technical fare—but in an argument about the information density of prose, it severely undermines the author’s trustworthiness.
Re:Hundred Pages vs. 11 Words
by riwsky on Tuesday February 20, 2024 @03:12AM
(#39439040)
To illustrate:
“The answer is not immediately obvious. Indeed, word problems in these forms are not only long-winded but also prone to misinterpretation. I may have wanted to ask you something but you may have understood (and answered) something else entirely. Moreover, I may have misspecified what I originally wanted to ask. All in all, this seems like a rather unfortunate way of asking questions of such nature. What if I change it to something like this instead:”
Could shrink to:
“The answer is not obvious. Wordy descriptions of math problems are prone to miscommunication—and tediousness. Compare:”
Re:Hundred Pages vs. 11 Words
by pkoird on Tuesday February 20, 2024 @07:21AM
(#39440384)
Guilty as charged. I'm definitely aware of my tendency to repeat things. In my admittedly flimsy defense, it stems from my fear of being misinterpreted.
Re:Hundred Pages vs. 11 Words
by itchyouch on Thursday February 22, 2024 @12:04PM
(#39469918)
Steven pinker has a TED talk about the ambiguity of language. And he makes a compelling point that the ambiguity in language is actually a feature, rather than a bug.
The reason being that the ambiguity allows for the renegotiation of relationships.
“The answer is not immediately obvious. Indeed, word problems in these forms are not only long-winded but also prone to misinterpretation. I may have wanted to ask you something but you may have understood (and answered) something else entirely. Moreover, I may have misspecified what I originally wanted to ask. All in all, this seems like a rather unfortunate way of asking questions of such nature. What if I change it to something like this instead:”
Could shrink to:
“The answer is not obvious. Wordy descriptions of math problems are prone to miscommunication—and tediousness. Compare:”
Blog looks interesting. Will keep an eye out.
The reason being that the ambiguity allows for the renegotiation of relationships.