An Interesting Study Link for Mathematics

Sean's Applied Math Book and Lecture

Appendix V. Glossary  (PDF full version p2281-2)

Phrases often have different meanings in mathematics than in everyday usage. Here I have collected definitions of some mathematical terms which might confuse the novice.


beyond the scope of this text: Beyond the comprehension of the author.

difficult: Essentially impossible. Note that mathematicians never refer to problems they have solved as being difficult. This would either be boastful, (claiming that you can solve difficult problems), or self-deprecating, (admitting that you found the problem to be difficult).

interesting: This word is grossly overused in math and science. It is often used to describe any work that the author has done, regardless of the work’s significance or novelty. It may also be used as a synonym for difficult. It has a completely different meaning when used by the non-mathematician. When I tell people that I am a mathematician they typically respond with, “That must be interesting.”, which means, “I don’t know anything about math or what mathematicians do.” I typically answer, “No. Not really.”

non-obvious or non-trivial: Real fuckin’ hard.

one can prove that . . . : The “one” that proved it was a genius like Gauss. The phrase literally means “you haven’t got a chance in hell of proving that . . . ”

simple: Mathematicians communicate their prowess to colleagues and students by referring to all problems as simple or trivial. If you ever become a math professor, introduce every example as being “really quite trivial.” (Say like this “This next pwobwem is weawy quite twiviaw”.)