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▲ traes 4 hours ago

Not to pick on you specifically, but as someone who spends a lot of time unproductively reading AI math discourse it's truly shocking how incapable all the supposed math enthusiasts are of spelling Riemann.

▲xpct 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I just did a quick search on this and apparently the misspellings are German surnames as well:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reimann

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinmann

▲traes 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I just don't understand how it happens. If they had ever taken an intro to real analysis class they would learn to spell his name. If they were just parroting what an AI told them... shouldn't they still just say his name? An individual could just be dyslexic or mistaken but it seems to be a substantial volume. I guess they just don't care enough about it to commit the correct name to memory, only remembering the "pattern" of the name and filling in the spelling via guesswork?

▲paulhebert 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

My last name is Hebert.

There’s about a 1 in 10 chance when someone spells it (or says it) they say Herbert.

Even in situations where they just read it or I just said it.

I’ve had Herbert soccer trophies, health insurance cards, etc.

The mind fills in a lot of blanks and doesnt always get them right.

▲jbaber 2 hours ago | parent [-]

I sympathize. -- Not Barber

▲ndriscoll 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Maybe they skipped straight to Lebeg integrals.

▲jryb 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Autocorrect might be doing it

▲neutronicus 32 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

iPhone would be my guess

▲NewsaHackO 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

People just don’t spell that seriously buddy, especially when it is so immaterial to the point.

▲traes 4 hours ago | parent [-]

My point is it is crazy to make public claims about how important or not important a mathematical result is when you can't spell Riemann. Yes, it technically doesn't matter, but it betrays a damning lack of familiarity with introductory mathematics.

▲xanderlewis 3 hours ago | parent [-]

You’re (as Claude would say) absolutely right, and I suspect the original commenter has no idea what they’re talking about.

▲conformist 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yes sure but they are different surnames and pronounced differently.

▲xpct 4 hours ago | parent [-]

I didn't mean to oppose OP's point, I just found it interesting as a non-German speaker!

▲lanyard-textile 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

They're mathematicians, not linguists :)

▲traes 4 hours ago | parent [-]

The mathematicians don't make this mistake, I assure you. I doubt there is a math professor on planet earth who would spell Riemann as Reinmann. In fact, I imagine no one who has ever heard the name pronounced would do so.

▲gpm 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

One of the best mathematicians I've had the pleasure of learning under added 6 to 7 and got 15 during a lecture... I assure you they're capable of misspelling last names too.

Mathematicians aren't exactly known for being well rounded.

▲scrame 32 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Oh god, that reminded me of my linear algebra teacher in college. Doing matrix multiplication by hand and ending up with 9x6 = 45, and then having to direct him to the cell with the wrong number. Loved the topic, hated the class.

▲jwilber 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Pure mathematicians getting arithmetic wrong is a bit of a meme it’s so common. I don’t think it’s the same as a misspelling of a popular mathematician, not that either are indicative of much tbh.

▲pixl97 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Uh oh, no true scottsman....

▲vector_spaces 3 hours ago | parent [-]

It's just a name you write so many times as a math undergraduate or first year graduate student due to the number of load bearing results and objects named for him. The name even appears in lower division coursework

Yes, you can be an amateur mathematician who manages to avoid such classes and may not know those results or objects, but if you haven't read and written down the name enough to avoid habitually misspelling it, you are outing yourself as a meat proxy unless you are dyslexic.

▲jere 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

“How many Ns in Riemann?”

▲sdenton4 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Let's figure it out! First, draw little boxes over all the letters. Then add up their areas. Then make the boxes smaller and repeat, until you have forgotten how to count.

▲broptimist 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[flagged]

▲dekhn 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Don't be a jerk.

▲XorNot 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Okay but who cares? Results are results.

If the proofs work thennwe can put them to work doing more things.

It is not particularly important that Einstein discovered relativity, just that it was discovered (Maxwell was very close).