Friday, May 2, 2008

Math = Programming - Computer

So I made a realization this week about why I hate math so much.

I was sitting in my Topology class and the teacher was going over the latest uber theorem that we have to memorize the proof of. Then it struck me: he was writing a function up on the board. And in the process of writing his function he had to define a couple new types of objects. Then he used those new classes of objects to define a relationship between them and the equivalence classes of the theorem.

But then it dawned on me: I'm gonna have to memorize this source code and not only regurgitate it later but be able to apply these classes and functions to some new object set... It's like writing a couple java classes and then having to do all the execution manually, without the computer to do the actual grunt work.

What sadistic person enjoys this?

Please for the love of god, let me just write the source code once, run it on a couple tests, get the results and refine the procedure. Don't torture me by making me memorize every line of code and make me do all the computation on my fingers!

Who does that!?

There has GOT to be a better way to teach this math. Please.... Anyone?