"eric_b [2:39 AM] I'd add a "what is a 'number..."

https://arbital.com/p/5wj

by Eric Bruylant Aug 16 2016 updated Aug 16 2016


eric_b [2:39 AM]
I'd add a "what is a 'number' anyway"-type page with an explanation of the general constructive, formal definitions of different types of number, for people who've been confused by the education system's tendency to be informal and be taught by people who don't have a clear idea what a number is.

Edit: this is maybe just a lens on "Number" (edited)

eric_b [2:46 AM]
I'd consider replacing irrational and transcendental with just real to reduce the scope, it's still ~15 pages, if we want one for each math level

[2:47]
(15 new pages, and a bunch of existing ones to work on)

[2:48]
oh, math 1 and 2? (edited)

[2:48]
I think 0 is the most important audience here, and 3 is the cheapest set of pages to create

[2:49]
I'd go for 0, 3, and have 1 as a stretch goal

[2:49]
especially since many of the pages already have math 0 lenses

[2:51]
that'd mean we need 5 new math 3 pages (shortish), 2 new math 0 pages, and reviews of a bunch of existing pages. (edited)

[2:52]
and, optionally, 6 math 1 pages

[2:53]
(we'd try and do those after the math 0 pages were made great, since copying a good math 0 page and adding algebraic shorthand is cheap and gets much of the way from math 0 to 1) (edited)

[2:55]
another good stretch goal could be external resource pages.

eric_b [3:01 AM]
11 pages to polish / finish + 7-10 to create. Even without irrational and transcendental, and even accounting for 5 of the new pages being short/mathy, that's fairly ambitious for a week. (edited)

[3:01]
project generally seems good, though.

[3:02]
it'd be a collection of pages linked to from loads of places, and a neat set of things to have tied together.

[3:07]
it's also small enough that it seems doable, has the engagement of many of our most active contribs, and has enough potential for interesting facts to keep it engaging

Plus some discussion with ER being keen to do math 2 and me hesitant, me being keen to do 0 and him hesitant. I now like 0 everywhere plus a mix of non-0 levels, and think 2 everywhere is not optimal, but am fine so long as we have 0s.