| Математики о языках (математических) |
[Mar. 20th, 2007|07:19 pm] |
Many people think that I am slow, almost stupid. Yes, it takes time
for me to understand what people are saying to me. To understand
a mathematical fact, you have to translate it into a mathematical
language which you know. Most mathematicians use three, four
languages. But I am an old man and know too many languages.
When you tell me something from combinatorics, I have to trans-
late what you say in the languages of representation theory, inte-
gral geometry, hypergeometric functions, cohomology, and so on,
in too many languages. This takes time. (И.М.Гельфанд)
It is amusing to watch how fellow
mathematicians, not accustomed with the peculiarities of
Gelfand's style, speak to him the first time. Very
soon they become bewildered why he insists on their giving him really
basic, everyone-always-knew-it kinds of definitions; then they are taken
aback when he becomes furious at the merest suggestion that the defi-
nition is easier to write down than to say orally ("I know, you want to
cheat me, do not try to cheat me!"). Next morning, their second conver-
sation is usually even more entertaining, because Gelfand starts it with
the demand to repeat all the definitions; then he proceeds by question-
ing everything which was agreed yesterday, and eventually settles for a
definition given in a completely different language. (А.Боровик, недавняя веб-книга,p.67)
I find it disconcerting speaking to my young colleagues, because they
have absorbed, reorganized, and simplified a great deal of known
material into a new language, much of which I don't understand.
Often I'll finally say, "Oh; is that all you meant?" Their new con-
ceptual framework allows them to encompass succinctly consider-
ably more than I can express with mine. Though impressed with
the progress, I must confess impatience because it takes me so
long to understand what is really being said. [50, p. 231] (И.Сингер)
One of the reasons why research mathematicians are so sensitive to
mathematical language issues is that they can see dramatic changes in
the languages used over their working life.
Кстати, сегодня обедал --- за соседним столом обедал муж А.Меркель, немецкой канцлерши. |
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