What does "working mathematician" mean? Is this term derogatory? What properties of a "working mathematician" are considered undesirable, and what attitude contrasts them?
What does "working mathematician" mean?
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soft-question
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2As in, "Categories for the Working Mathematician"? My question being, where did you hear this term? – 2012-11-25
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0I think of it from Mac Lane's book Categories for the Working Mathematician. I do not see that as derogatory, as he was trying to present material to people a bit too busy to work all of it out themselves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categories_for_the_Working_Mathematician – 2012-11-25
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15One who hangs out on street corners in alluring attire and extracts solutions to stiff problems. – 2012-11-25
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2It has the connotation "for a knowledgeable mathematician who is nevertheless not familiar with the area I am writing about". – 2012-11-25
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0@Graphth, MacLane, mostly; I remember reading somewhere that he was using this term in a negative context. It also creeped into the Wikipedia article on Godel, who knows where else? – 2012-11-25
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5"Working mathematician" is an oxymoron. Mathematicians only know to play with things. – 2012-11-25
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1@Marvis, your version is consistent with that of copper.hat. – 2012-11-26
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0I have to add that [this came to mind](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h59mDlBSt7o). – 2012-11-26