Re: When a mathematician makes a mistake...

Dear Dopey,

I evaluate visiting mathematics and science lecturers after they submit
to preprint archives. There are always mistakes. They have to know and
fix it. It is the reason why math people should have a good sense of
humor. :-)

I am a mathematician with a math disability. I am not dyslexic.
Computers now handle things so that I can do my concept work.

I am highly forgiving of people who honestly acknowledge that I pointed
out something important. Some people get ruffled and strike back, but
at least they know. They are not real or even honest mathematicians if
they strike at good and honest critique.

It is highly unethical not to commit to rectifying scholarly mistakes.
If this is found out, then you will lose your math reputation. That is
a sensitive issue.

When I point out mistakes, I usually do it via private e-mail. It is up
to them to fix it, or answer to it, or rebut it. They then send it back
to the organization that is sponsoring the preprint archive or the
lecture. Those who will not send back will have private ethical issues.


I find mistakes in every single math paper, and not just trivial ones.
There is always a private e-mail on my end. To not get a reaction from
me means that there is something wrong with the paper.

I don't make my fellow colleagues feel stupid. It is bad for
business. Plus, it will cause politics. To share with colleagues and to
ask for reflection is part of the business. A lot of these reflections
will mean you have to amend.

Math is really an involving enterprise. It is not Plato. It is not
something that is eternal. It is changing. That is my mathematical
enterprise. I track the conceptual changes in it.

Sincerely,

B.T.





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).

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?

.

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