mathwonk's latest activity

I think vela hit the nail on the head. Becoming educated, i.e. learning to understand something, is for me a long, difficult process...

As a high school student long ago in the US south our school offered no calculus, very inadequate algebra and geometry, and the local...

The music teacher gave my math workbook to my class teacher who then had a talk with me after class. I promised not to do math during...

One thought that occurs to me is that virtually all learning is self-learning. If you enroll in a course and listen to the lectures but...

We don't know what he had in mind, but as a matter of fact, existence of parallel lines does not require the parallel axiom and what the...

Here is the situation as I understand it. Stillwell states Euclid's parallel postulate, then gives an argument meant to prove its...

yes, my drawing labeled the angles oppositely to Stillwell. I have (hopefully) corrected the notation in response to your observation...

But let's try to prove existence of parallels actually using Euclid's parallel postulate. let p be the point where n meets m in his...

Having found and read Stillwell's account in full, I agree with you that he seems mistaken in his claim. I find that very puzzling, as...

I can't judge a book's logical flow based on selected excerpts. But the ones you have reproduced do puzzle me. If Stillwell is...

Well again, I am handicapped by not having the book. He visibly states that the result follows from the ASA principle, so that is what...

It does not appear to be used here. I can only suppose that he does not mean this latter fact actually follows from the parallel...

Fascinating subject. In the 8 years since the previously linked article was published, interest and controversy about this topic...

I try to emphasize to my classes that, to understand any statement, it is crucial to make precise what the terms in it mean, to give not...

Exactly for the reason you point out, one should not, in my opinion, ever assume there is a universal definition for any mathematical...