>week 1 of real analysis
>professor asks the whole class what the real numbers are
>half of them barely grasp what rational numbers are
>briefly defines them as schizo infinite sequences of blah blah blah
>ask the prof if we can actually go through and CONSTRUCT them from first principles in depth
>"we shall take the real numbers as an axiom and let them be given"
do mathematicians actually do this ?? in a course that is supposed to be RIGOROUS AND FORMAL when it comes to R ?

looks like norman is correct when it comes to the lack of rigor in modern mathematics