|
|
![[parent]](http://images.planetmath.org:8080/images/uparrow.png) Viewing Message
|
|
|
| ``Re: Obtuse Definition''
by azdbacks4234 on 2009-02-08 18:46:11 |
|
| See the entry:
http://planetmath.org/encyclopedia/ComplexConjugate.html
The entry under discussion is not about complex conjugation...that's why the term doesn't appear in the title. If you aren't trained in mathematics you can't expect to understand everything on this site. Having an "advanced degree" in one field doesn't mean you're naturally going to understand everything in some other field...that's why there are Ph.D's in math, and there are Ph.D's in physics...they are completely different subjects. A certain amount of background is necessary just to understand some definitions, and it would be severely inefficient to attempt to provide all this background in an entry which is meant just as a definition. That's why we have the linking system. Moreover, this IS the general entry. The notion of a complex conjugate is subsumed by that of an algebraic conjugate, as gel alluded to. Making mathematics more accessible doesn't mean making advanced mathematics comprehensible to everyone; if this were possible, we'd have no need for graduate school because everybody could be a mathematician. You can't explain modern algebraic geometry to a high-school student in a useful way unless that high-school student is extraordinarily gifted in mathematics. The site makes information about all facets of mathematics available to everyone on the internet...the necessary background for understanding a given entry is implicit in the subject matter of the entry, and if that necessary background is unclear to you, it's probably likely you don't have it. |
| | [ reply | up | top ] | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
