Re: When a mathematician makes a mistake...


Dopey wrote:
How embarrassing is it if a mathematician submits a paper to a
preprint archive and then it is found (either by the author or
someone else) that there is a mistake?

(I mean one that is difficult to see even by experts, not
something completely ridiculous).

If it's a subtle error, it won't be that embarassing.

If the mathematician keeps the posted paper after finding out about the
error, he/she should be _very_ embarassed, though, since there's no
excuse for keeping a paper which is known to be wrong.

--- Christopher Heckman

Do people think they were lazy or stupid not to have realised?
That they can't be good mathematicians and are letting everyone
down? Or is it quickly forgotten as something fairly respectable
and routine?

.