I sat in math class wishing it would end. Now I wish this woman had been my math teacher.https://www.quantamagazine.org/maryam-mirzakhani-is-first-woman-fields-medalist-20140812/ …
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Replying to @WriterobinRS
Ms Swicord, it would be a joy and an honor to share with you some of the exquisite, tantalizing wonders you would have learned from her.
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Replying to @WriterobinRS
Here's a key insight: numbers are like words. We understand new and recondite numbers by relating them to simpler, more everyday ones.
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Replying to @MathPrinceps @WriterobinRS
We can't understand big numbers in any other way. We must see in them some sort of structure that reveals their kinship with small numbers.
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Replying to @MathPrinceps @WriterobinRS
Otherwise, their complexity baffles and humiliates us. Our minds are simply unequal to the obscure multifariousness of really large numbers.
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Replying to @MathPrinceps @WriterobinRS
We have devised a system of writing numbers, using numerals. But being able to write a large number is very different from understanding it.
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Replying to @MathPrinceps @WriterobinRS
Just as we may be able to spell a word we can't define, we may string together numerals to "spell" a number whose meaning we don't know.
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Replying to @MathPrinceps @WriterobinRS
The secret to the meaning of numbers is the same as the secret to the meaning of words: context. Story. Narrative. Numbers act and interact.
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Replying to @MathPrinceps
What a great explanation. What does the narrative look like? When I see a formula or an algorithm, is the meaning only its function?
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I would love to share with you some genuine number narratives, but those I've already prepared won't fit here. May I message you privately?
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Replying to @MathPrinceps
Yes. I dropped out of Twitter for a couple of days Please explain anything you like regarding our current conversation.
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Replying to @WriterobinRS
Alas, Ms Swicord, Twitter permits private messaging only between persons who follow each other. If you'll follow me, I'll send you things.
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