Wallace:David:Infinite Jest:1023:math errors (Dan Schmidt)

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wallace-l 26 April 1996:

Well, this is off the subject, but the math footnote reminds me of one of the two things that ticks me off about Infinite Jest - the math isn't very good. Some examples:

(p. 1023-4) discussion of the Mean Value Theorem

Well yeah, he's pretty accurate here (except for a missing integral sign in the second equation on p. 1024), but the Mean Value Theorem is just kind of a nice thing for proofs, it doesn't actually help you calculate anything one bit. I can't see how it would be of the slightest use in Eschaton calculations.

Dan Schmidt | dfan@[omitted] | http://www2.lglass.com/~dfan