(Trivia: What song has the lyric Some are Mathematicians, some are Carpenters's wives ? It's not a parody song, though sometimes it's hard to tell a parody song from a so-called real song.)
In my post about Pope Leo XIV I made the following comments in different parts of the post:
Pope Leo XIV has a degree in Mathematics.
Prevost [his pre-Pope name] has a degree in mathematics from Villanova.
He is not the first Pope to know some mathematics.
I also wrote:
Since Pope Leo XIV was a mathematician, as Pope he won't only know about sin but also about cos.
Someone emailed me about this line, not to say it was a bad joke or even a good joke, but to say
Since Pope Leo XIV was a mathematician: What qualifies one to be considered a mathematician?
A few thoughts on this question.
1) I blogged about this topic here. Hence today I will discuss issues I did not discuss then.
2) Robert W Prevost wrote a book that (just from the title) seems to use some math:
Probability and Theistic Explanations, see here.
that was published in print in 1990 and online in 2023. I wonder if it will sell more copies now. I am tempted to ask for a free copy to read and do a review of, but I'm not sure I really want to read it.
One would think that if someone named Robert Prevost wrote a book that seems to use math and theology then it would be the Robert Prevost who is now called Pope Leo XIV. I thought that. A commenter on my blog thought that. But Lance read an earlier version of this post and pointed out that
Robert W Prevost NE Robert F Prevost AND
Robert F Prevost = Pope Leo XIV.
Hence, alas, the author of the book is NOT Pope Leo XIV. It's striking how plausible it would be that Pope Leo IS the author. The book STILL might sell more copies since people may think it's by the Pope.
Robert W Prevost's Wikipedia page is here.
Robert F Prevost's Wikipedia page is here.
3) If someone keeps LEARNING math but doesn't DO math I WOULD consider them a mathematician.
4) If someone is a math crank then the question of are they a mathematician will depend on how cranky they are.
5) If one KNOWS a lot of math but is neither learning anymore or doing any more (perhaps myself when I retire) can you consider them a mathematician?
6) If someone gets a PhD from MIT in Pure math but then goes to industry and programs would you consider them to be a mathematician?
7) If X is NOT a math crank and X considers themselves a mathematician, are they a mathematician?
8) I WOULD consider applied math to be math. This should not need to be said but there may be some pure-math-snobs reading this post. Computer scientists, statisticians, are more of a borderline case that, without being a snob, I might not consider mathematicians.
9) Someone posted on the blog where this came up Does Lance consider himself a mathematician? I asked Lance and he said:
For the next 37 days I consider myself a Dean. After that, who knows?
Tangled up in Blue, of course.
ReplyDeleteI'm cranky (but not a crank (really, I'm not)), and I'm learning a bit of math here and there, so I guess I rate as a mathematician in the context of this thread. I'm in awe of real mathematicians, so I'd never call myself one, though.
5. I can't see how someone becomes a mathematician, and then stops seeing new kewl math things, whatever they do. Yesterday I was reading a comp. sci. book and it asked what gcd(x,y) x lcm(x,y) was. I wouldn't have figured it out, but from the context it was immediately obvious (the book did a lovely job of setting it up), and it's seriously kewl (I'm easily amused: sue me.). I've read the section on gcd, lcm and the like in several number theory books, and it was (to me) a new way of looking at gcd and lcm. OK, I'm not a real mathematician, but it sure looks like there's an infinite amount of kewl math stuff out there.
The distinction between being `a real mathematician' and whatever you think you are is thin. You understand some math, you like it, you are willing to admit you are wrong (Cranks are not) so YES, YOU ARE A MATHEMATICIAN.
DeleteI suspect the Pope DID stop seeing new kewl math things since he got more interested in theology.
I thought it was `Tangled up i BlueS' for the last 50 years! Thanks for clearing up that misconception!
DeleteYou're in good company: messing up Dylan words is real easy to do, so I'm always impressed when someone manages to get through a Dylan song without munging up the words. Bob Weir (of the Grateful Dead) was famous for messing up words, but in real life he actually got the Dylan song words right much of the time. (The Dead would play one or two Dylan songs in most of their shows, so he had lots of chances to mess up.)
DeleteHere's a lovely laid back version of Tangled up in Blue with two really fine guitarists. (Bill Kreutzman is one of the Grateful Dead drummers and he's here doing his side gig, playing with younger players, thus the name "Billy and the Kids". This session was early post-covid, and they did a four-day session on the beach in Hawaii, with good quality video recording but no audience.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm9190hA1vU
The second song in that video is the lovely Grateful Dead song "Cassidy".
Robert W Pervost is getting lots of annoying comments now.
ReplyDeleteHe may sell more books, get some invitations to give talks, so maybe the annoying comments will be worth it!
Delete