tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post6398537358110172858..comments2024-03-29T08:55:55.727-05:00Comments on Computational Complexity: Good Names and Bad Names of Game Shows and theoremsLance Fortnowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06752030912874378610noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-52601252293647316002021-02-25T11:59:10.846-06:002021-02-25T11:59:10.846-06:00Carrying the logic further, perhaps we should star...Carrying the logic further, perhaps we should start giving babies descriptive names instead of non-mnemonic names such as Sophia or Liam. That might make it easier to remember the names of new acquaintances.<br /><br />More seriously, while I do think that mathematicians ought to invest more effort coming up with better terminology, I don't think that there is any easy solution. Do we really want to trade in "Kähler" for something like "complex symplectic positive definite"? Or "Calabi-Yau" for "compact complex symplectic positive definite flat null-cohomological"? There's a tradeoff between descriptiveness and convenience. And if one chooses a short word that happens not to be someone's name, there's no guarantee that it will be any more descriptive or mnemonic than a name. Ball gives "perfectoid space" as an example, but as far as its descriptive or mnemonic value is concerned, I have a hard time seeing how "perfectoid" is any better than "Scholze."<br /><br />In fact, an argument can be made that even if we make mnemonic value our primary criterion, using someone's name is better than using a freshly coined neologism. Mathematicians are human, after all, and all (okay, almost all) of us care about other human beings. I might have a more vivid memory that a particular polynomial is "the polynomial that Tutte introduced" than I have of the definition itself.Timothy Chowhttp://alum.mit.edu/www/tchownoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-83306130671855835782021-02-24T08:36:16.668-06:002021-02-24T08:36:16.668-06:00I agree the finding the right name can be hard to ...I agree the finding the right name can be hard to do.<br />(Idea for another blog: GOOD names for math concepts.)<br /><br />gasarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03004932739846901628noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-44328398144683825482021-02-24T08:29:53.015-06:002021-02-24T08:29:53.015-06:00Or almost any other concept in advanced math. The ...Or almost any other concept in advanced math. The linked article cherry-picks some examples where it is possible to come up with a short but (at least somewhat) descriptive name, but I don't see that being the case in general.<br /><br />And does the name "Monstrous Moonshine" really tell anything meaningful about the mathematics involved?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-36379482967136447002021-02-24T06:47:00.248-06:002021-02-24T06:47:00.248-06:00Convince me with a better short reference name for...Convince me with a better short reference name for a Calabi-Yau manifold and the other things anyone would have to learn before they're even ready to learn about a Calabi-Yau manifold.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-3090755182293926422021-02-23T23:53:07.447-06:002021-02-23T23:53:07.447-06:00the article I point to is by Laura Ball and she is...the article I point to is by Laura Ball and she is the one who made the points I am re-iterating. gasarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03004932739846901628noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-89465679429444904952021-02-23T08:31:59.697-06:002021-02-23T08:31:59.697-06:00What's a ballian point?What's a ballian point?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-41156575333421764172021-02-23T07:00:10.433-06:002021-02-23T07:00:10.433-06:00But why is it called a "group"?But why is it called a "group"?Lance Fortnowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06752030912874378610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-85438204049967423882021-02-23T00:58:02.885-06:002021-02-23T00:58:02.885-06:00I think the most famous example is Abelian group i...I think the most famous example is Abelian group instead of commutative group.domhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05790539025733385232noreply@blogger.com