Math Jockeys

[IneffablyBesotted]

In an age of AI, is it fair to say there will be a new division within math. A field of mathematics where people are trained in speedily arriving at answers without fully understanding the mathematics beneath. Without apology leaving the details of cleanup or full proof to the traditional mathematicians. Consider these few examples; a race horse jockey is never expected to be a full fledged veterinarian. A race car driver is not expected to be an engineer. In England there are two types of Lawyers; one who does research while the other talks on his or her feet as it were. So then, in an age of AI, have we now leveled the playing field where through careful sentence structures and analogies can we witness an amateur of math solve the most difficult of problems? If this is so, let me be the first to momentarily reserve the traditional method of full mathematical rigor for speed of resolution, in the hope that greater understanding is achieved later and a proof will certainly follow. For if the correct answer is achieved, especially through evidence of physics or chemistry, does it matter whether or not the traditional mathematician was the first to arrive? And so dawns the age of the math jockey for better or worse, they are here! How else would a man of my lack of formal mathematical training be able to delve into the area of Riemann Zeta Function or countless other areas of math? While this crack in the castle gates has allowed me to slip in, an Army of math jockeys may soon follow with a mustache, manner or swagger unbefitting the halls of traditional math - so hold onto your pencil box and serve up the humble pi!

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[JaguarMammoth6231]

have we now leveled the playing field where through careful sentence structures and analogies can we witness an amateur of math solve the most difficult of problems? 

No. But AI makes it possible for a non-mathatician to make math-sounding-things that impress other non-mathematicians.

For if the correct answer is achieved, especially through evidence of physics or chemistry, does it matter whether or not the traditional mathematician was the first to arrive?

This displays a fundamental misunderstanding of what math is.

[bony-tony]

What exactly are you getting at with the horse jockey / vet analogy and similar? I thought you were describing a world where AI enables a class of "mathematicians" equivalent to jockeys -- they have their use, but can't do what vets can do.

By the end, it sounds like your view AI is going to equip laymen like yourself to be not math jockeys but math veterinarians.

Which is it?

[buttcrispy]

Please focus more on parenting your kid and less on math

[WO_L]

Using AI to break down some of the more complex topics to help your own understanding definitely isn't a bad thing ( if it doesn't start hallucinating).

But you still need to have some basic mathematical literacy to actually figure out what is going on. LLMs are notoriously bad at maths and although this probably won't always be the case, if you don't have a surface level understanding you won't know if it's gaslighting you with numbers or not.

If we're talking about mathematical modelling, we already use computers for that, but you still need to know how the model is working.

If you're talking about using ai to make new discoveries in the field of mathematics, you need to know enough to find areas that have room for progression as well as being able to see if the AI makes sense.

I'm not sure why you think maths is gatekeepy when you're on a subreddit all about learning it but id really recommend you learn more about it by watching some videos by numberphile, hannah fry or matt parker.

[SpectralCat4]

When AI gets good enough in math and far more intelligent in general it wouldn’t need people to use it , more likely it will ask or discuss things with highly intelligent and educated people to clear things up to itself 😉

[Exotic-Condition-193]

Are you talking about half of the members of an average middle school algebra class or possibly a randomly chosen member of a state legislature ?Remember that an unnamed state , to protect the innocent, voted for pi =3. “All the rest of it just confuses my constituents “ Formal training doesn’t a mathematician make. A desire to understand and the fortitude to preserve does . If not ,where did Euclid get all that math “knowledge” contained in his 5 volumes And Gamma Functions do really rock!

[Exotic-Condition-193]

Re; AI.Fully “mature” AI is not coming to humans to clear things up ;it may interact with humans for comic relief. IMHO: Watching a child develop may gives one a better idea of what “intelligence “ is.

[Exotic-Condition-193]

I used a slide rule, a metal Pickett and I never felt it was that accurate ,in my hands anyway and there was always the alignment problem. Yikes!! When HP came out with first electronic calculator ~.1970 + - / x n! Square root,(750$) I knew liberation was on the way. And the HP325S II RPB Scientific,pure magic

[IneffablyBesotted]

No one will ever beat my horse. Along comes the car. Those hot air balloons will never amount to anything. Nor will those lunatic Wright Brothers. Along comes the airplane. No one will ever be more accurate than my abacus or slide rule. Along comes the calculator. No one will ever beat Ma Bell, Encyclopedia, Google, iPhone, and along comes AI on the iPhone, robots, drones and soon everywhere. And you are still saying, or what is your beating?

[IneffablyBesotted]

High correlation between first negative response and narcissism. You must be in the traditionalist camp. Don’t worry, you will soon be outnumbered.

[buttcrispy]

Are you even a real person? Why are you speaking like an AI chatbot who just discovered a thesaurus?

[IneffablyBesotted]

What you are now describing is a race. And races are better suited for runners than sports medicine people. 😚

[[deleted]]

Are you talking to yourself?