Three of my favorite books this year just happen to be comic books… I mean Graphic Novels. Each of these is a lovely way to spend an afternoon pondering…
 |
 |
 |
You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you’re finished, you’ll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird… So let’s look at the bird and see what it’s doing — that’s what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.
-Richard Feynman
What is that we human beings ultimately depend on? We depend on our words. We are suspended in language. Our task is to communicate experience and ideas to others.
-Niel Bohr
Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize till you have tried to make it precise.
-Bertrand Russell
 |
 |
 |
In case you have any reason to doubt the wisdom of these fine fellows… I leave you with this:
“I believe in using words, not fists. I believe in my outrage knowing people are living in boxes on the street. I believe in honesty. I believe in a good time. I believe in good food. I believe in sex.”
― Bertrand Russell
The Feynman quote you mention comes from one of the most influential stories in my life. It helped me realise that learning maths is much more about language than the concepts. I taught financial maths to a small group of people with no maths training how to price exotic derivatives. We came up with the term "Schwarzenflappen"* for maths terms that confuse. "Schwarzenflappen" reduces the anxiety of the learner as it points the finger of blame at the poor use of language. It's the reason I'm hoping that CALM will be a learning event (student centric) rather than teaching event dominated by "Swarzenflappen".* None of us spoke good German so it sounds like it might be the German word for Blackbird.Looking forward to meeting you at CALM.Chris