Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] the Rearrangement Inequality

[Stephen Montgomery-Smith <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Christian M. Cepel wrote:
> I know this is a stupid question, but I don't really know the 'why' of 
> it being stupid.  The question is, "exactly how does one do mathematical 
> research?"
>
> I'm probably over simplifying but how does one research something that 
> seems to me to be pretty static.  What are one's goals when doing 
> research.  Are you coming up with new and clever ways to see established 
> concepts, or actually discovering new concepts, or finding applications 
> for existing concepts?
>
> I have this weird image of my head of someone sitting in a chair for 8 
> hours a day with a TI-86 in their hand while they ponder and tap their 
> head with the eraser on the end of a pencil.   I suppose I can 
> substitute Mathematic for the TI-86, but I still have the same image.
>
> Before you jump on me, I barely made it through pre-calc, and only then 
> because my wife was a VERY patient tutor.  I guess I've never really 
> been shown a broader world than just doing some fundamental calc and 
> trig applications.
>
> I've seen Good Will Hunting and A Beautiful Mind (yes, I know.. that was 
> economics), but I don't really have a clear idea of motivations and 
> goals and such.

These really are good questions, but I think to do the answer justice 
demands almost an essay on my part, and one into which I will need to 
put in a lot of thought.  Could I ask you to ask me again in a few weeks 
or months?  Right now my mind really is elsewhere, and so my current 
MLUG correspondence is only a paragraph or two here and there.

I will briefly say that I thought that "Good Will Hunting" was a really 
trashy movie.  "A Beautiful Mind" wasn't too bad - in particular I 
thought that the first half of the movie did a great job of describing 
the onset of schizophrenia and how those who care for the person react. 
 I thought that the second half, where John Nash cures himself by the 
power of his logical thinking, was bad, and is basically persuading 
people that they really don't need their meds (and unfortunately they 
don't need much persuasion - lack of compliance is one of the major 
reasons why meds don't work for mentally ill people).

I will say that John Nash was a very accomplished and brilliant 
mathematician.  Sadly, I think his mental illness greatly reduced the 
impact that he could have had.

Stephen

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