Re: Publicity

[Ronnie Brown <ronnie.profbrown@btinternet.com>]

This brings up one of my hobby-horses, that the virtues of abstraction
are not marketed, even to mathematics students.  After I gave a
presentation to teachers and pupils on knots, including prime knots, in
1987 or so a teacher came up to me and said: "That is the first time in
my mathematical career that anyone has used the term `analogy' in
relation to mathematics!" Who is responsible for this?

Of course *abstraction* is about *analogies*.  I will comment  this on
the given web site, but my registration awaits approval. The word
`analogy' does occur 9 times in Spivak's book, but not I think with this
force.

Tim and I have a paper:

   `Category Theory: an abstract setting for
analogy and comparison', In: What is Category Theory? Advanced
Studies in Mathematics and Logic, Polimetrica Publisher, Italy,
(2006) 257-274.  ([141] on my publication list. pdf available)

The other side to category theory is that is has stimulated the
development of new algebraic/mathematical  structures.

Ronnie

On 06/06/2013 16:46, Eduardo J. Dubuc wrote:
> On 05/06/13 21:28, Ross Street wrote:
>> http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/350567/description/One_of_the_most_abstract_fields_in_math_finds_application_in_the_real_world
>>
>>
>> Perhaps the above article is more good than harm.
>>
>> Ross
>> www.math.mq.edu.au/~street
>>
>>
>>
>
> I just read the article. It seems to me that it is empty marketing. But,
> anyway, marketing has been extensively used in mathematics, to witness,
> Thom's theory of catastrophes (hiding that there was good mathematics
> underneath).
>
> e.d.
>

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