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From: sher@rochester.UUCP (David Sher)
Newsgroups: net.ai
Subject: Re: Mathematical Methods
Message-ID: <7379@rochester.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 12-Jun-84 23:27:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: rochester.7379
Posted: Tue Jun 12 23:27:32 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 13-Jun-84 06:59:00 EDT
References: <730@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Organization: U. of Rochester, CS Dept.
Lines: 11

Personally,  I have done mathematics upto the beginning graduate level
for various courses.  When I do any difficult piece of mathematics I
find that after the fact I can never remember how I came upon the
proof.  I can reconstruct my steps but the reconstruction has no real
relationship to what I really did.  The sensation of finishing a proof
is highly analogous to waking up from a dream.  This is possibly the
most important reason why I am doing artificial intelligence rather
than mathematics today.  If other real mathematicians also operate in
this manner then it is not surprizing that they are reluctant to write
up their resoning processes.  They literally can not remember them.  
-David