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[Vector]

Just realized, once again, that most of my education is utter crap and I know almost nothing about anything.

I'm not sure this feeling ever ends, but I hope to god it does.

Also remembered that mathematician training is often 70,000-80,000 hours of information that no one cares about and pretty much no one talks about.  Folks my age have asked if I'm going into secretarial work or accounting.

Why the fuck did I pick this field.

[Aqizzar]

See, I have that feeling every once in a while too, that I'm not really "learning" everything, because all the course material feels so intuitive.  And to some extent that's true.  I am after all studying the scientific understanding of politics, which to me is quite intuitive.  And that's the thing-

If you go to school to study what you like and already have an interest in, everything will feel like you already know it.

I embrace the feeling.  It means I'm on the right track.  Or that the professor is just treading water, which I don't have a particular problem with, since I get class credit no matter how hard they try or not.

[Sowelu]

If you don't feel like your education is preparing you, then take it into your own hands.  Just remember that blind studying and rote memorization are useful, just not in the ways you expect:  Even as the math (or similar) seems silly or pointless, it just keeps getting drilled into your head until it's nothing but instinct.

Actually applying some of that instinct is kind of your own job though, no matter what field it's in.  Profs can't do that for you, you just need to find your own initiative no matter what and where.

Huh, That sounds... crap. I myself am terrified at the prospect of going to sleep.

Gah, what's wrong?

[Vector]

If you don't feel like your education is preparing you, then take it into your own hands.  Just remember that blind studying and rote memorization are useful, just not in the ways you expect:  Even as the math (or similar) seems silly or pointless, it just keeps getting drilled into your head until it's nothing but instinct.

Actually applying some of that instinct is kind of your own job though, no matter what field it's in.  Profs can't do that for you, you just need to find your own initiative no matter what and where.

No, I just realized that first 13 years I spent studying and nearly killing myself with stress were largely pointless.  I am more than aware of everything you just said.

The only problem with reducing things to instinct is that, in a proper mathematical education, one must constantly question one's own instincts and beliefs.  It is generally better to learn paranoia and questioning than it is to learn safety and instinct, because they will serve the student better in the long run...

Faugh.  Who cares about calculus and "trigonometric identities," anyway?  I care about group theory and topology one hell of a lot more.

[Earthquake Damage]

Faugh.  Who cares about calculus and "trigonometric identities," anyway?  I care about group theory and topology one hell of a lot more.

Group theory is one of the fun parts.  Calculus?  Not so much.

Abstract = more fun
Newton = less fun

[Sowelu]

trigonometric identities

Because they're AWESOME, that's why.  They're fluffy but awesome.

[Vector]

Abstract = more fun
Newton = less fun

Leibniz = no fun.

Curse that guy.

[ein]

I do not like trigonometric identities.
Not at all.
Vectors are fun though.
I like working with coordinates and such.

[ToonyMan]

How am I today?!  Well...

Ugh, I just stood in the bathroom looking into the mirror to find something to be happy about.  My new hoodie looks nice.  That's cool.

Otherwise I'm totally totally bleh.  And that's all there is to say on the matter.

[Sowelu]

Vectors are fun though.

Interesting.

[ein]

I asked a question regarding vectors in the fifty-seventh dimension.
It stumped my math teacher even though it's pretty much exactly the same as what we're doing now in two or three dimensions.
But in fifty-seven.

[Aqizzar]

(0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0)

Unless I'm mistaken, that should be dead center.

[ToonyMan]

I'm sure you must be wrong somehow, if not, then I must be wrong somehow.

[fqllve]

Also remembered that mathematician training is often 70,000-80,000 hours of information that no one cares about and pretty much no one talks about.  Folks my age have asked if I'm going into secretarial work or accounting.

Why the fuck did I pick this field.

I know that feeling too. I mean, who the fuck talks about Grammar? People who want to tell others they've got it wrong. No one cares about how it actually works, about it being the resource for creating meaning.

Wait... Seventy THOUSAND hours? That's absolutely ridiculous.

But I mean, you picked it because you love it right? Because it's what interests you. I mean, that's a hell of a lot of work, and a lot of it's gonna be stuff that will probably be irrelevant for you. But in the end you get to do what you're interested in and pretty much no one can say that.

edit: Seriously though, seventy thousand hours? Holy fuck that is crazy.

I'm sure you must be wrong somehow, if not, then I must be wrong somehow.

If I were a sigging man, that would be sigged.

[Aqizzar]

That "70,000-80,000 hours" number has to be a plaintive exaggeration.  That would be about eight years in strait hours, or about thirty four years of normal work-weeks.  I'm going to say it's a turn of phrase from a jaded mathematician, because thirty four years is not training, it's a career.