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  1. Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!news.acns.nwu.edu!uicvm.uic.edu!u53644
  2. Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
  3. Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 19:01:24 CST
  4. From: <U53644@uicvm.uic.edu>
  5. Message-ID: <93011.190124U53644@uicvm.uic.edu>
  6. Newsgroups: sci.math
  7. Subject: Re: Let's add some sci.math.* groups
  8. References: <1993Jan11.142229.23554@linus.mitre.org>
  9.  <1993Jan11.194822.665@stsci.edu>
  10. Lines: 71
  11.  
  12. Simple enough...........
  13.  
  14.         Continue maving sci.math for whatever postings don't fit in one of the
  15. math subgroups (I'd suggest
  16.  
  17.           sci.math.applied          Theory of Differential Equations, Applied
  18.                                     Probability, Integral Equations, etc. and
  19.                                     (of course) real life applications of these
  20.                                     fields. Anything that you'd expect to find
  21.                                     in a SIAM meeting. Excludes Numerical
  22.                                     Analysis, which already has a perfectly
  23.                                     busy group of its' own, and Statistics,
  24.                                     and.........
  25.  
  26.           sci.math.business         (Contrasting with technically oriented
  27.                                     previous group), Operations Research,
  28.                                     Actuarial Science, Financial Modeling,
  29.                                     and other areas of application of
  30.                                     Mathematics to business, government, etc.
  31.                                     (Game theory,....)
  32.  
  33.                                     Why : Different audiences. Each group
  34.                                     (for the most part) would just be wading
  35.                                     through what the others are writing. Also,
  36.                                     this is NOT addressed by sci.economics.
  37.                                     Even if it stopped being a talk.politics
  38.                                     clone - Business isn't Economics any more
  39.                                     than Chemical Engineering is Physics.
  40.                                     Different problems are considered.
  41.  
  42.         sci.math.teaching           This could include any "sci.math.undergrad"
  43.                                     1. it allows usenet to be used as an
  44.                                        educational tool
  45.                                     2. it allows the prospective benificiaries
  46.                                        of the techniques under discussion to
  47.                                        give timely feedback.
  48.  
  49.         sci.math.recreational       self-explanatory. would include
  50.                                     applications to the arts.
  51.  
  52.         sci.math.foundations        no, not logic. devoted to set theory and
  53.                                     other efforts concerned with strenghthening
  54.                                     the logical foundations of Mathematics
  55.                                     (Measure theory, etc... the 'hairsplitting'
  56.                                     that you hear PDE men grumbling darkly
  57.                                     about during teas). Rigor as an art.
  58.                                     (Point-set Topology, Category theory...)
  59.  
  60.         sci.math.geometry           Paradoxically, needed because of it's low
  61.                                     traffic. This field (exclusive of
  62.                                     algebraic and differential geometry),almost
  63.                                     seems to be fading out - how many Geometry
  64.                                     courses do you see listed lately ? A nice,
  65.                                     clear, low noise level channel for
  66.                                     communication among the ones left might
  67.                                     help improve the health of the field.
  68.  
  69. 'Leftovers' : Analysis, Algebra, Algebraic Topology, Combinatorics, etc.
  70.  More groups might be added as needed.
  71.  
  72.  Gain : less time spent sorting through articles of little interest to one.
  73.  Of course, there is no law against reading more than one group.
  74.  
  75.  Definite suggestion : Moderated groups, and/or mailing lists, like electronic
  76.  journals.
  77.  
  78. I think that the initial poster has a good idea - a little more order will make
  79. reading these groups easier and more productive.
  80.  
  81.  
  82.                                             Joseph B. Dunphy
  83.