So it’s an interesting time for computers-doing-mathematics. A couple of interesting things happened in the last few days, which have inspired me to write about the question more broadly. Fir…| Xena
Why formalize mathematics - more than catching errors I read a good post by one of the authors of the Isabelle theorem prover, that got me thinking. The author, Lawrence Paulson, observed that most math proofs are trivial, but writing them (preferably with a proof assistant) is a worthwhile activity, for reasons similar to safety checklists - “Not every obvious statement is true.” As I have been a bit obsessed with doing formalized mathematics, this got me thinking about why I am excited ...| Rado's Radical Reflections