Re: When a mathematician makes a mistake...

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?

Not embarassing at all. Making mistakes in mathematics is an everyday
occurrence, and these things happen. We learn through our mistakes,
and it makes us better mathematicians for it.

Refusing to admit you have erred, or steadfastly resisting peer reviews
on your work, is the time to feel embarassed. The hallmark of
crankhood is precisely this, for thinking you have accomplished
something, while ignoring other mathematicians who say you have not.
Any regualr sci.math member can point to many examples of this, whether
it be proving FLT, disproving Collatz, contradicting Cantor's theorems,
or what have you.

Jonathan Hoyle

.

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