Here is a timeline of mathematical achievements:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_mathematics
I would say that I have:
-very solid understanding of (practically) every discovery made before 1800
-good understanding of half (i know the ones related to complex analysis) of the discoveries between 1800-1900
-good understanding of few discoveries between 1900-2000 (LU decomp, fast fourier, three cottage, few others)
-other achievements since 1900 is nonsense / mindfuck to me
I wonder if this is how it has always been. For example; did most math/engineering students in the year 1900 not know much about the discoveries made between 1800-1900, and most of those discoveries considered niche for anyone but doctoral research and further?
Or have we reached a point where mathematical achievements have truly become too complex, and only professionals in their related fields can hope to comprehend them.
Will university students in the year 2200 be able to understand Catalan's conjecture proof, Poincare conjecture proof, Green-Tao theorem proof, Fermat's last theorem proof etc? I highly doubt it. Does this mean that almost no one with a stem university education will have any understanding of mathematical achievements made in the past 300 years? I think this will be the case.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_mathematics
I would say that I have:
-very solid understanding of (practically) every discovery made before 1800
-good understanding of half (i know the ones related to complex analysis) of the discoveries between 1800-1900
-good understanding of few discoveries between 1900-2000 (LU decomp, fast fourier, three cottage, few others)
-other achievements since 1900 is nonsense / mindfuck to me
I wonder if this is how it has always been. For example; did most math/engineering students in the year 1900 not know much about the discoveries made between 1800-1900, and most of those discoveries considered niche for anyone but doctoral research and further?
Or have we reached a point where mathematical achievements have truly become too complex, and only professionals in their related fields can hope to comprehend them.
Will university students in the year 2200 be able to understand Catalan's conjecture proof, Poincare conjecture proof, Green-Tao theorem proof, Fermat's last theorem proof etc? I highly doubt it. Does this mean that almost no one with a stem university education will have any understanding of mathematical achievements made in the past 300 years? I think this will be the case.
