Algebra

What Hacker News says

1. StandardFutureApr 2020
   > Because I can't think of a single one.

   This is beyond and silly and pedantic. We are all supposed to rely on what YOU can and cannot think of?

   If you really want some mathematical objectivity then maybe go read through Serge Lang's Algebra and come back with me on which parts you found to be subjective. You might find some!

   > Which of these observations were purely objective?

   Sigh ... so you have an anecdote of something that at a particular point in time was unproven and conjectured. That status allowed others to make subjective claims against it. And you are using this to try to argue that everything at all times is never objective? That is silly. Can you really not see the flaw in your logic here? The clue word was: anecdote.

   > The choice of what to observe and what to report

   I never made this differentiation anywhere in my comment. I pointed at blatant intellectual dishonesty which is stating things either false or in a fashion that might provide a more naive reader with a false pretense or to perhaps make something concrete appear ambiguous, etc.

   You are trying to restrict all possible forms of intellectual dishonesty to reporting bias. You are doing this is either out of ignorance or intellectual dishonesty. I am guessing the latter as you seem to have no moral contention with it.

   And yes, you can have things that are not subject to bias. Dropping an apple from a window always causes the apple to fall towards the earth and not away from it.

   This conversation is pointless because you are either a troll or a supremely dishonest individual.

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2. MichaelBurgeJul 2017
   There's a story about a carpenter who walked into a library, picked up a copy of Serge Lang's book "Algebra", skimmed through the first page where he proves uniqueness of the identity in a monoid, was surprised at how ironclad the argument was, and became a mathematician to study it more.

   I forget his name, or where I heard it.

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3. jordighNov 2014
   Wow, I swear I was just wondering last night if he was still alive or not, as I was reading about him in Serge Lang's Algebra. Personal coincidence for me.

   May we never forget the Grothendieck prime, 57.

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