I knew the multiplication tables before they were taught to me in 4th grade (somehow; I cant remember how). Somewhere along the way I formed a distinction between math as it was in interesting books I found in the library (martin gardner, mainly), and math as it was taught in school. i grew up in a little town in nebraska and when i went to a university i was stunned to meet professors who knew about the "math in the books", rather than simply "math as in the school." i honestly had not even the slightest suspicion that any such knowledge might exist in living, reachable human beings....certainly i had never met such a person. which seems amazingly blinkered to me now, but my surprise then was genuine. it was as if i'd studied some obscure language and had gained some elementary knowledge of it and then suddenly learned that it was spoken fluently by everyone in a slightly larger town down the road. On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 11:17 AM, Dan Asimov <asimov@msri.org> wrote:
Dear Fred,
On Feb 13, 2015, at 10:38 AM, Fred Lunnon <fred.lunnon@gmail.com> wrote:
Cross-cap for you, Dan. WFL
Ha! That's exactly what I was thinking, too!
Best,
Dan
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