TP or NP? Trial ballon goes up

[Alex Colter]

In all honesty I'm surprised I made it through Algebra 2...  I often feel,
for lack of a better Mathematical Knowledge perhaps, that Pynchon uses
Mathematics and Physics (& metaphysics among others) as a Trope.
Those of us who look inward, whether reading deeply Formulas or Poetry, run
the very real risk of Abstraction... remember Slothrop's terrible fate, not
allowed to die but be scattered... I think this sort of abstraction, I
think of Mason's Melancholy, is certainly a lively topic among the Great
Writers & Thinkers, all who walk along very tangible Precipice, whether
Gnostic or  Mathematical....?
Still working through AtD, I had the same problem with M&D, I've read the
first 3/4s of it several times but simply don't want it to end, Pynchon is
such a delight to read.

On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 10:39 AM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Ready for your next dose of ROFL at a plister? Feel an itch to flame and
> ridicule for downright
> absurd arguments drawn from my Back to AtD reading, that great, great book?
>  Me, you talkin' about me? yes, I am.....
>
> As I've too-oft stated, I believe a great book comments on life
> ultimately and life opens out in unexpected ways because
> of such books, the great authors. The associations are almost endlessly
> rich---see Shakespeare if Pynchon isn't him. But
>
> Below is a NYTimes essay that is getting lots of comment, lots of
> controversy, lots of the equivalent of flaming by many,many.
> Seems that, in itself, it is a good plist conversation topic.
>
> BUT, my outlier comic--to most of you, I bet---annotative skit is to say:
> as a kind of oblique, real world footnote --an associative annotation so to
> speak--
>  this guy's argument against algebra and higher level math (except if
> interested or needed for other intellectual pursuits) but FOR
>  the necessity of MORE math (statistics, measurement--see Wa Po on
> Quantitative movement---)
>  dovetails with my reading of a theme in AtD: mathematics beyond what we
> use in everyday living abstracts us from this pendant world and is useless
>  (or in P's vision, too often leads to actual harm). Abstraction
> from the physical, tangible world is BAD SHIT in AtD, I say, and is a
> through-theme from the personal life of the characters to the abstract
> notions
> that lead to war.
>
> C'mon lurkers and those who haven't yet commented on my 'radical' [read
> Stupid?] notions. Let me have it.
>
>
> In the Opinion Pages Andrew Hacker writes, “Making mathematics mandatory
> prevents us from discovering and developing young talent.
> Is Algebra Necessary?
> http://www.nytimes.com/
> As American students wrestle with algebra, geometry and calculus often
> losing that contest the requirement of higher mathematics comes into
> question.” — —
>
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