Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site wdl1.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!think!mit-eddie!genrad!decvax!tektronix!hplabs!hpda!fortune!wdl1!jbn From: jbn@wdl1.UUCP Newsgroups: net.singles Subject: Re: Responsibility and blame Message-ID: <598@wdl1.UUCP> Date: Mon, 5-Aug-85 10:57:01 EDT Article-I.D.: wdl1.598 Posted: Mon Aug 5 10:57:01 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 11-Aug-85 05:23:48 EDT Sender: notes@wdl1.UUCP Organization: Ford Aerospace, Western Development Laboratories Lines: 11 Nf-ID: #R:tove:-28700:wdl1:4200031:000:530 Nf-From: wdl1!jbn Jul 29 19:53:00 1985 The ``obvious proof'' chestnut surfaces again. ``Obvious'' means that you can find the proof without extensive search; i.e. exploration of blind alleys and backtracking is minimal. Obvious proofs may be long, but the work all moves the proof forward. Those of us who have worked in automatic theorem proving are very aware of the difference between an obvious proof and an short but non-obvious proof; theorem provers are good at obvious proofs. Let's quit discussing mathematics in net.singles. John Nagle