texstudio_IIGmIK.pdf
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ANY QUESTIONS?
Desmond Machale
"Recently, I attended a mathematical lecture given by a guest speaker where absolutely nobody,
except possibly the speaker, had the remotest idea what was going on. Normally, one can absorb
at least some of the preliminary definitions and follow, say, the first blackboard full of
development of the theory, but on this occasion everyone was completely lost after the first
definition.
After the speaker had finished over an hour later to an enthusiastic round of applause,
the chairman asked for questions, and, of course, there was a deathly and highly embarrassing
silence. Then and there I resolved to put together a collection of universal questions for use in
such situations.
Such questions must sound sensible, but they are designed to cover up the total
ignorance of the questioner rather than to elicit information from the speaker. The following is the
list I came up with...."
#paper
Desmond Machale
"Recently, I attended a mathematical lecture given by a guest speaker where absolutely nobody,
except possibly the speaker, had the remotest idea what was going on. Normally, one can absorb
at least some of the preliminary definitions and follow, say, the first blackboard full of
development of the theory, but on this occasion everyone was completely lost after the first
definition.
After the speaker had finished over an hour later to an enthusiastic round of applause,
the chairman asked for questions, and, of course, there was a deathly and highly embarrassing
silence. Then and there I resolved to put together a collection of universal questions for use in
such situations.
Such questions must sound sensible, but they are designed to cover up the total
ignorance of the questioner rather than to elicit information from the speaker. The following is the
list I came up with...."
#paper
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