Re:Show HN: New world record – verified Goldbach Conjecture ...
by computerfriend on Saturday April 19, 2025 @08:18AM
(#43735921)
Also not aware of it, but am mathematically trained and would always say "proved".
Re:Show HN: New world record – verified Goldbach Conjecture ...
by tel on Saturday April 19, 2025 @09:24AM
(#43736225)
I would also always use that in a mathematical context but feel it’s weird to hear, say, “proved in a court of law”.
Re:Show HN: New world record – verified Goldbach Conjecture ...
by kazinator on Saturday April 19, 2025 @01:14PM
(#43737778)
Grammatically, or semantically?
Re:Show HN: New world record – verified Goldbach Conjecture ...
by kazinator on Saturday April 19, 2025 @06:06PM
(#43739857)
It seems to me that in North American English, we use the proven participle as an adjective (almost exclusively?). So that is to say a remedy, having been proved effective, is then considered "proven effective". This usage is drilled into people's heads by advertisements.
It feels sort of like the difference between gilded and golden. Something that has been gilded now has a golden surface. Now golden has that en suffix like some participles, but isn't one. It's a pure adjective.
I'm not a mathematician though, so maybe this is a genuine semantic convention that neither I nor my dictionary are aware of. Maybe it's just that some mathematical style guides say to prefer "proved", for consistency, not that it really depends on the context?