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- From: dfrankow@cs.umn.edu (Dan Frankowski)
- Subject: Re: Afraid of the future? (WAS DEREGISTERe: An interesting limit problem.
- Message-ID: <1992Jul29.141210.4314@cs.umn.edu>
- Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, CSci dept.
- References: <1992Jul25.212844.1@lure.latrobe.edu.au> <Bs1xzu.DFp@news.cso.uiuc.edu> <1992Jul28.191037.28756@gdr.bath.ac.uk> <1992Jul28.165137.5825@iscsvax.uni.edu>
- Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 14:12:10 GMT
- Lines: 57
-
- In <1992Jul28.165137.5825@iscsvax.uni.edu> kraai4712@iscsvax.uni.edu
- (jim kraai) writes:
-
- >In article <1992Jul28.191037.28756@gdr.bath.ac.uk>, mapsj@gdr.bath.ac.uk
- (Simon Juden) writes:
- >> > Mathematica should be viewed as a fancy
- >> > calculator (which, essentially, is what it is). Very good and very
- >> > useful, BUT undergrads HAVE to learn basic concepts and manipulative
- >> > skills before they're let near it. Otherwise they will never become
- >> > mathematicians, but rather computer operators..
-
- Formerly an undergraduate math major and now a graduate student in
- computer science, I think there could be worse things than to be a
- computer operator. :)
-
- >> > .. lots deleted ..
- > .. lots deleted ..
-
- >I would guess that using tools like Mathematica to derive tedious results will
- >be viewed much the same way in 50 years as we view grabbing a handheld
- >calculator to do square roots today. It won't be given a second thought.
-
- I certainly hope there will be a second thought! Mathematica must be
- treated with great suspicion! For instance, the absolute value is not
- well-respected:
-
- - Integrate[ 1/x, x ] = Log[x], not Log[Abs[x]]
- - Sqrt[x*x] = x, not Abs[x]
-
- leading to integrals with square roots sometimes being inaccurate by a
- large amount (say, 0.1) that is difficult to spot. Also, due to its
- essentially pattern-matching nature, calculations broken up into
- several steps and optimized by hand may be 100 times faster than
- simply letting it have its way.
-
- The point is, to use Mathematica, one must know a good bit about how
- computers work, how math works, and how Mathematica works. It's not a
- black box at all.
-
- > .. more deleted ..
-
- >People like this should dedicate their lives to safeguarding the past instead
- >of preventing the next generation from moving on into the future.
-
- >IMHO
-
- Ouch. Not too humble.
-
- >jim kraai
-
- >young, progressive undergrad math major who has never used Mathematica in his
- >life..
-
- Dan Frankowski
-
- --
- Dan Frankowski dfrankow@cs.umn.edu
-