

Math reading list - ColinWright
http://mathoverflow.net/questions/2144/a-single-paper-everyone-should-read

======
tylerneylon
Shannon's paper would be a good example of a great math paper that introduced
deep, original ideas -- many of the higher-rated papers are good, but not
original work.

I love reading the works of original authors. For example, there's a Dover
edition of Georg Cantor's Theory of Transfinite Numbers which gives
essentially the original development of ordinal numbers, which is based on
(Cantor's own) development of set theory. Another original I recommend is
Conway's On Numbers and Games, although that field (surreal numbers) has not
been as influential. I think it's underrated.

About Lockhart's Lament: This guy sounds a bit angry about things. I'd love to
see change in math education, but I'm afraid that basing it on strong negative
emotions is not the best approach. In more detail, I'm not completely
convinced that he's isolated the real source of trouble in the US math
education system. A champion for math education reform I admire is Keith
Devlin (<http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_03_11.html>).

------
jrp
Scroll down to find the (IMO) more interesting papers. As mentioned in a few
comments on the linked page, people tended to submit and upvote very meta
articles.

------
mvzink
Really glad to see this. Math is an all-too-often underrated tool, but
studying it like this after uni wouldn't even occur to most people.

~~~
ek
Yes, but MathOverflow is a website for research mathematicians. Studying
mathematics after college is what most of the people on that website get paid
to do.

~~~
mvzink
Yes, but a link to this discussion is showing up on HN, where much of the
population is not paid to do so.

------
chaosgame
This is without a doubt the best post I've seen on Hacker News in months.

