Hi Apophenia! I like your suggestion, and I will give it a try, but I think your article suffers from Typical Mind Fallacy. Just because you do better with visualization than with numbers does not mean that “humans” in general are “intuitively better” at visualizing. If you have any other evidence to support your claim that visualization is better, you should provide some of it.
Also, it is traditional to post short articles with no math or citations in the “Discussion” section rather than on the Main Page.
This is a good criticism. I’m more aware of the Typical Mind Fallacy than most people because I’ve switched modes of thinking several times—I’m not currently a visual thinker. I don’t think people are good at visualizing, I think they’re bad at numbers. I’m a mathematician, and I think other mathematicians I’ve met are generally bad with numbers. I also tried to make clear that this suffered from high uncertainty via the keywords “I think”.
I don’t read Discussion any more, but I found it the contents similar to the old monthly discussion threads I read religiously. I posted things to those; I thought this merited a top-level post. I try to keep a very concise style, and I think top-level posts can (and should be) short on occasion.
and I think other mathematicians I’ve met are generally bad with numbers
Let me add another data point to your analysis: I’m a mathematician, and a visual thinker. I’m not particularly “good with numbers”, in the sense that if someone says “1000 km” I have to translate that to “the size of France” before I can continue the conversation. Similarly with other units. So I think this technique might work well for me.
Also, it is traditional to post short articles with no math or citations in the “Discussion” section rather than on the Main Page.
Things get “traditional” very fast here ;-) However, this is probably the most to the point advise for deciding where to post something (minus the meet-ups etc.).
Hi Apophenia! I like your suggestion, and I will give it a try, but I think your article suffers from Typical Mind Fallacy. Just because you do better with visualization than with numbers does not mean that “humans” in general are “intuitively better” at visualizing. If you have any other evidence to support your claim that visualization is better, you should provide some of it.
Also, it is traditional to post short articles with no math or citations in the “Discussion” section rather than on the Main Page.
This is a good criticism. I’m more aware of the Typical Mind Fallacy than most people because I’ve switched modes of thinking several times—I’m not currently a visual thinker. I don’t think people are good at visualizing, I think they’re bad at numbers. I’m a mathematician, and I think other mathematicians I’ve met are generally bad with numbers. I also tried to make clear that this suffered from high uncertainty via the keywords “I think”.
I don’t read Discussion any more, but I found it the contents similar to the old monthly discussion threads I read religiously. I posted things to those; I thought this merited a top-level post. I try to keep a very concise style, and I think top-level posts can (and should be) short on occasion.
Let me add another data point to your analysis: I’m a mathematician, and a visual thinker. I’m not particularly “good with numbers”, in the sense that if someone says “1000 km” I have to translate that to “the size of France” before I can continue the conversation. Similarly with other units. So I think this technique might work well for me.
I do know my times tables though.
OT
Things get “traditional” very fast here ;-) However, this is probably the most to the point advise for deciding where to post something (minus the meet-ups etc.).
Maybe fit enough for the FAQ?