Tuesday, June 17, 2014

[eyxijqoh] Unsatisfying proofs

Some mathematical proofs are more "satisfying" than others in how they elucidate some "deep" structure or concept.

Although the formalization of one proof of a theorem is just as good as formalizing any other proof of that theorem for the purpose of knowing it is truly true (which is important), some proofs may be better than others for the purpose of inspiring progress in mathematics as a whole.

Can we quantify or make more precise this notion of "better"?

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