I have to say, I think an incomprehensible bearded man killing my parents would be worst. You're not reeling from the explanation of banach-tarski, are you?
I'm not sure. It shouldn't be worse, but somehow a long explanation tends to lead you astray and get you concentrating on the details. If it said "and so, blah de blah" and then had two paragraphs in brackets saying "this is fairly obvious, but consider, etc", or even presented as a lemma elsewhere, it works ok, but if you just plunge in you often lose your place entirely.
I have to say, I think an incomprehensible bearded man killing my parents would be worst.
But only in a mathematically inclined article, not in real life. So although it would be bizarre to find such a description in the middle of, say, a proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra, it wouldn't really be that terrible.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-03 10:41 am (UTC)I'm not sure. It shouldn't be worse, but somehow a long explanation tends to lead you astray and get you concentrating on the details. If it said "and so, blah de blah" and then had two paragraphs in brackets saying "this is fairly obvious, but consider, etc", or even presented as a lemma elsewhere, it works ok, but if you just plunge in you often lose your place entirely.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-03 10:59 am (UTC)But only in a mathematically inclined article, not in real life. So although it would be bizarre to find such a description in the middle of, say, a proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra, it wouldn't really be that terrible.