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#1 2009-08-07 08:36:22
- Ricky
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World's worst dictionary
Word: Definition
1. Recondite: Abstruse
2. Abstruse: Enigmatic
3. Enigmatic: Cabalistic
4. Cabalistic: Arcane
5. Arcane: Esoteric
6. Esoteric: Hermetic
7. Hermetic: Recondite
(This all started when I saw the definition of recondite including the word "abstruse")
"In the real world, this would be a problem. But in mathematics, we can just define a place where this problem doesn't exist. So we'll go ahead and do that now..."
#2 2009-08-07 09:01:34
- bobbym
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Re: World's worst dictionary
Hi Ricky;
recondite: abstruse
abstruse : arcane
arcane : esoteric
esoteric: recondite
Found this going back and forth in 4 different online dictionaries.
In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
90% of mathematicians do not understand 90% of currently published mathematics.
I am willing to wager that over 75% of the new words that appeared were nothing more than spelling errors that caught on.
#3 2009-08-07 09:50:49
- MathsIsFun
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Re: World's worst dictionary
I think they are quietly demonstrating the abstruseness.
"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..." - Leon M. Lederman