Two plus Two

[Joe Weinstein]

Earlier today (Tues. 14 May) Don Davison wrote:

"In my haste to quickly dispense with Josh Narins, I gave the wrong first 
name for the famous mathematican Russell.  It is funny that not one of the 
`Super Great' mathematicans on this list spotted this error ... Maybe the 
math junkies on this list are not that Super nor Great."

Don displays admirable humility:  he confesses to a math history error 
arising out of haste in pursuing ad hominem tactics.

This humility is quite poignant, as there immediately ensues a derision of  
us 'mathematicians' and 'math junkies'.  [Two quite different categories, by 
the way.  For instance, I have a math Ph.D. but am no math 'junkie'.  
Rather, I too am often "in haste to quickly dispense with" certain messages. 
  For me, the dispensable messages are those which may be loaded with math 
but lack abiding relevance and insight.]

Someone, please explain why humble Don's errors are so important that we 
mathguys should drop all else, in order to detect and correct them!

And please explain too why these errors are obviously errors, capable of 
being readily detected by us mathematical mortals.  After all, I have found 
(based on scanning some of his previous posts) that Don's universe (of 
discourse at least) tends to differ notably from mine.

My general and professional universe includes a famous long-lived and 
near-heroic mathematician, logician and philosopher named Bertrand Russell.  
In one of Don's posts I did casually note a quite different sort of 
character also surnamed Russell, but it was far from clear to me that the 
reference and ascribed first name were truly errors within Don's intended 
universe.

Joe Weinstein
Long Beach CA USA



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