From: Stephen D. Williams (sdw@lig.net)
Date: Tue Jan 02 2001 - 23:40:34 PST
Matt Jensen wrote:
>
...
> ...
> BTW, I was looking for another reference on this topic, and stumbled on a
> report about "anzan", an ancient Japanese technique for impressive mental
> calculations. Schoolchildren practice it, and then compete in events.
>
> e.g., "Tsuchiya, for example, takes only a few moments to solve a problem
> like 992.587318 divided by 5,647.723" Very interesting stuff.
Reminds me of Tractenberg (sp?) who had a book of math shortcuts. Somewhat
obsoleted by the calculator. I used to really like to do math in my head.
sdw
> http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/japan_math001030.html
>
> -Matt Jensen
> NewsBlip.com
> Seattle
>
> [1] http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Wiles.html
> ---
>
> On Tue, 2 Jan 2001, Stephen D. Williams wrote:
>
> > '30', as evidenced by the mathematical '25', is probably relative to a field.
> > Few doctors have the experience to innovate drastically at 30. Of course, in
> > the medical field innovating is tough in any case. Ice skating and gymnastics
> > place that number far lower, although it may be the coaches who are innovating
> > sometimes through others.
> >
> > Not to mention exceptions to this everywhere.
> >
> > Certainly the distractions and responsibilities of a family between late 20's
> > and early 40's makes a big difference to large numbers. The latter makes risk
> > taking seem selfish to most.
> >
> > sdw
> >
> > Dave Long wrote:
> > >
> > > > The "Thirty Hypothesis" is the belief that one's useful life ends at
> > > > 30. This rule was first proposed by Rohit as the "Mathematician's rule
> > > > of 25," which states that anything that was ever useful in mathematics
> > > > was discovered and/or proved by a person by the time s/he was 25.
> > >
> > > Aristotle (Rhetoric) says young men would rather do noble
> > > deeds than useful ones, but old men would rather do useful
> > > than noble[0]. By his definitions then, this hypothesis
> > > should read "one's noble life ends at 30", for I believe
> > > the reason that the young people make all the discoveries
> > > is the older ones are too busy exploiting what has already
> > > been discovered.
> > >
> > > Kaufmann (The Origins of Order) points out that on rugged
> > > fitness landscapes, those which have a large number of
> > > local optima, adaptation shows two phases. In the first
> > > phase, the initial point is poorly adapted and variants
> > > in its vicinity are only slightly fitter, but variants
> > > at a long jump away can be very much fitter. Once a fit
> > > segment of the space has been discovered, however, the
> > > variants at a distance are usually less fit, whereas the
> > > variants found locally may be slightly fitter, and so
> > > adaptation climbs a local hill in the second phase.
> > >
> > > Young mathematicians and engineers are in their first
> > > phase, so they make the long jumps, the "discoveries".
> > > Older ones have a sense of gradients in the landscapes
> > > of their fields, as well perhaps as a sense of their
> > > own fortes and foibles, and so limit themselves to the
> > > main chance[1] with the goal of doing useful work.
> > >
> > > -Dave
> > >
> > > [0] "They are too fond of themselves; this is one form
> > > that small mindedness takes. Because of this, they
> > > guide their lives too much by considerations of what
> > > is useful and too little by what is noble -- for the
> > > useful is what is good for oneself, and the noble
> > > what is good absolutely."
> > >
> > > [1] "The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle
> > > to the strong, but that's the way to bet."
> >
> > --
> > sdw@lig.net sdw@insta.com swilliams@Jabber.com
> > Stephen D. Williams Insta, Inc./Jabber.Com, Inc./CCI http://sdw.st
> > 43392 Wayside Cir,Ashburn,VA 20147-4622 703-724-0118W 703-995-0407Fax Dec2000
> >
-- sdw@lig.net sdw@insta.com swilliams@Jabber.com Stephen D. Williams Insta, Inc./Jabber.Com, Inc./CCI http://sdw.st 43392 Wayside Cir,Ashburn,VA 20147-4622 703-724-0118W 703-995-0407Fax Dec2000
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