Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!orca!demiurge!brucec
From: brucec@demiurge.WV.TEK.COM (Bruce Cohen;685-2439;61-028)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics
Subject: Re: fractals as bad science
Message-ID: <5383@orca.WV.TEK.COM>
Date: 17 Nov 89 00:02:44 GMT
References: <19544@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> <1619@crdos1.crd.ge.COM> <3775@celit.fps.com>
Sender: nobody@orca.WV.TEK.COM
Reply-To: brucec@demiurge.WV.TEK.COM (Bruce Cohen)
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Wilsonville, OR
Lines: 25

In article <3775@celit.fps.com> billd@fps.com (Bill Davids_on) writes:
>I think this guy just wants to get a little fame for himself.  Maybe
>he's just annoyed that there is so much emphasis on fractals these
>days (actually he alludes to this in the next to last paragraph where
>he talks about how getting money to buy hardware to do fractals is
>easier than getting money to study algeraic geometry).  I still think
>he's a dweeb for writing the paragraph I just quoted.  It was
>completely uncalled for.

Now I'm sorry I let my subscription to the Intelligencer lapse; sounds like
some real juicy flammage.  I think what you're seeing here is the classic
antipathy of "pure" mathematicians for "applied" mathematics.  The quotes
are because I don't think anyone can really tell where the line is drawn;
maybe there aren't any real distinctions in the mathematics, and all you
can say is that there are pure and applied mathematicians.  In any case, I
believe that the Intelligencer is where I saw the quote: "Applied
mathematics is bad mathematics."  I *believe* the quote was attributed to
Paul Halmos, but I won't swear to it; if I'm wrong, be gentle with me.

"Small men in padded bras don't look the same falling from high places."
	- R.A. MacAvoy, "The Third Eagle"
Bruce Cohen
brucec@orca.wv.tek.com
Interactive Technologies Division, Tektronix, Inc.
M/S 61-028, P.O. Box 1000, Wilsonville, OR  97070