IlyaShpitser comments on The value of learning mathematical proof - Less Wrong

3 Post author: JonahSinick 02 June 2015 03:15AM

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Comment author: IlyaShpitser 02 June 2015 10:08:38AM *  0 points [-]

It's a good exercise to think about why the extreme value theorem fails if the function is not continuous (e.g. a general function is more like an infinitely large, arbitrarily malicious lookup table, not something you draw with a pencil on graph paper).

I liked complex analysis better, but I agree that real analysis is generally the first serious math class people who are not very algebraic cut their teeth on.

Comment author: JonahSinick 02 June 2015 10:35:09AM 0 points [-]

I think that complex analysis is much more intrinsically interesting (leading to Riemann surfaces, quasi conformal makings, etc,) but because the class of functions is so restricted, one is saved a lot of the nitty-gritty type work that one has to do in real analysis.