================
                            On Mathematics
                             16 may 2018
                           ================

I  would  like  to apologize for my lack of activity on gopher for the
last few months; I started  college  and  have  been  very  busy.   My
teachers  assign  so  much homework that I really haven't had the time
nor energy to write anything for gopher.  Currently I'm taking english
101, college 101, microeconomics, and calculus 1.

Anyways,  let's get to the topic at hand.  Alexander Stepanov, the man
behind the c++ standard template library,  has  posed  an  interesting
question  (please  forgive me, as I cannot remember which exact source
the question is from).  In  trying  to  emphasize  the  importance  of
mathematics,   he   asks   what  difference  there  is  between  doing
mathematics and doing  programming.   This  has  been  an  interesting
question,  as  there  is  no clear distinction between between the two
activities other then the fact that one involves mechanization.

Since I heard this  question  I've  been  thinking  a  lot  about  the
fundemental  essence  of  what mathematics really is and what it's all
about.  It turns out that math isn't really about calculating  angles,
or solving for variables, or finding logarithms.  Mathematics is about
logical thinking.  It's the proccess of going from assumtions to sound
conclusions,  and  it's  the  proccess  by  which  we derive truths of
abstract ideas and constructs.

I've developed quite a deep  appreciation  of  mathematics,  and  I've
decided  I  want  to  learn the fundementals.  I think that I'll start
with propositional logic and set theory and then move up  from  there.
I want to be able to go on to do more advanced maths, and perhaps even
one day understand Donald Knuth's "The Art Of  Computer  Programming".
I  think  that  I  also want to make some math guides along the way to
help others learn, although those are probably going to be html as I'm
going to need images for equations and what not.

Anyways  that  is  all I have to say for now.  Hopefully I can be more
active on gopher again.

--Auzymoto