I confess that I am a little bit confused about what Vaughan is saying. This promps me to repeat my posting in other words: If a mathematical statement is understood by a reader (the hypotesis, the conclusion and the proof) then the mathematical meaning of any particular notation used should come up by itself to this reader (that is, it should be clear for him that only one possible meaning for this particular notation would make the things work). Eduardo Vaughan Pratt wrote:
On 9/1/2010 12:21 PM, Eduardo J. Dubuc wrote:
I am wondering, nobody can read the mathematics and come up with what Grothendieck meant !!!
Eduardo raises an excellent point here. Which is more important for a contribution, its meaning or its influence?
If the latter, a secondary question is, how was that influence achieved? Improved access to the contribution, e.g. via translation, may help those who understand the mathematics but not the French explain the influence, even if the original meaning remains obscure.
Vaughan
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