On Aug 5, 2007, at 01:00 , Robert Bradshaw wrote:
> > On Aug 4, 2007, at 5:58 PM, William Stein wrote: > >> On 8/4/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> Shoot, this came in as I sent that last message. I have much less >>> to say about >>> this version; it's very strong. Part of me thinks that the >>> mathematica quote >>> is too direct an attack... but it's from the horse's mouth, and I >>> think that the >>> mathematical community needs to know. >> >> It is indeed *their* statement on the matter and it is what they >> strongly believe >> to be true. It is critical to my argument that the reader be >> convinced that >> current closed mathematical software is nothing like the situation >> with math papers -- with >> closed math software you can't just pay $25 and read the source (like >> you can with >> expensive journal articles. No journal would *ever* dare make a >> statement >> like Mathematica does about the proofs of the theorems they >> publish. Many >> mathematicians probably don't know this or believe it about >> mathematical software. >> It is very important that they realize the truth before it is too >> late. > > Though we all understand the principle, I don't think many people > will (instantly) see the connection between software and proofs. I > don't want to be to aggressive, but I think we need to state that > point directly. I like how you worded it in this email--perhaps right > after the quote something like. > > No journal would *ever* dare make a statement like Mathematica does > about the proofs of the theorems they publish, yet (here/increasingly > commenly) the software and algorithms used are an essential part of > (Jane's/the) proof. I really like your argument here. I think it is precisely the issue when discussing the use of closed source/proprietary software in mathematics: "a theorem without proof is as useful as software without code". Perhaps remove 'dare' :-} Justin -- Justin C. Walker, Curmudgeon-at-Large () The ASCII Ribbon Campaign /\ Help Cure HTML Email --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URLs: http://sage.scipy.org/sage/ and http://modular.math.washington.edu/sage/ -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
