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Writing Matters: Ravi Vakil

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  • A Word from the Director
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Writing Matters: a series about writing's connection with academic and professional success.

PWR Faculty Director Nicholas Jenkins speaks with Ravi Vakil, Professor of Mathematics at Stanford University.

 

If you have a fantastic idea and no one understands you, it doesn't count. If you have a fantastic idea and you don't get across why it's so beautiful, it doesn't count. So, writing in mathematics is central for that reason.  And it's central for a second, somewhat surprising reason. Once you have an idea, you have to write it down, and when you write it down—clearly, concisely, and convincingly—that's when you find out where the flaws in your thinking actually are. It's in the revision, revision, revision process that really you actually learn some of the most important mathematics.  Professor Ravi Vakil, Department of Mathematics, Stanford University

 

More about Professor Vakil and his work.

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