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Monday, October 02, 2006

What math professors say ...
... and what they mean by it:

  • Clearly: I don't want to write down all the "in-between" steps.
  • Trivial: If I have to show you how to do this, you are in the wrong class.
  • It can easily be shown: No more than four hours are needed to prove it.
  • Check for yourself: This is the boring part of the proof, so you can do it on your own time.
  • Hint: The hardest of several possible ways to do a proof.
  • Brute force: Four special cases, three counting arguments and two long inductions.
  • Elegant proof: Requires no previous knowledge of the subject matter and is less than ten lines long.
  • Similarly: At least one line of the proof of this case is the same as before.
  • Two line proof: I will leave out everything but the conclusion. (You can't question 'em if you can't see 'em.)
  • Briefly: I am running out of time, so I will just write and talk faster.
  • Proceed formally: Manipulate symbols by the rules without any hint of their true meaning. Proof omitted: Trust me, it is true.

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