''Not a Mathematician'' Although I am a student of many subjects, and an enquirer into many appealing things, there are other areas I do not study, but I've come to the conclusion that you can use things you do not understand. In particular my M''''''ajorInterestAndOccupation consists of things other than Mathematics, but it should not prohibit me, or anyone, from using and misusing what it seems to represent. This page tag can be used by people to identify themselves as having curiosity, and more than passing interest, in using some of its practical, applicable (in this case "programmable") aspects. In the process of developing new concepts such as I''''''nfoSpaces and P''''''rocessingSpaces, the representational and linking mechanisms of Mathematics which are understood by Mathematicians, can be brought to bear on D''''''esignedTasks, resulting in W''''''orkingModels. This is why I thought of the idea of NotaMathematician. Believe it or not, ThoughtPatterns and ThoughtDisciplines deeply rooted in Mathematics may be perceived and translated into uses having no Mathematical expression. When one sees in Mathematics something that awakens other thoughts and initiates ideas and concepts which may be mathematical, but which are thought processes operating in the way one is disciplined to think. The general equation for a circle in rectangular Cartesian coordinates to a mathematician may be x^2 + y^2 + 2*g*x + 2*f*y + c = 0 but the NotaMathematician, yet (to use trivial examples) A NotaMathematician farmer when shown a circle may see tractor wheels, discs, center pivot irrigation. The NotaMathematician baker may see Cookies, Cakes, and Pies. The NotaMathematician Programmer may visualize a disk drive, a clock, or an iterative structure. More complicated Mathematics and graphical representations may trigger some not-so trivial ideas and visions which can then be translated into forms which are formed not by math, but by the objects, forms and ideas they generate in the processes of a thinking, creative mind. In this way a NotaMathematician may be found using principles derived and formed by Mathematic representations but not consisting of Mathematics. -- DonaldNoyes ** sometime when I see things for an instant, and then try to express them, I find words fail to encompass the thought - forgive me if this is so here. my rewording may have made it more understandable. The idea is clear to me! ''I don't understand what you're trying to say. For example, ThoughtPatterns don't perceive anything. People perceive things. If comes across to me as completely content-free fluff, but having read other things you've written I'm sure there is some genuine content. I would appreciate something less obscure and more pedagogical to help me understand the point(s) you're making.'' What I had in mind when initially writing was things mathematicians express as nodes, steps, edges, paths, vertices, and graphs. I have not up to now chosen to pursue the understanding as a mathematician would understand such things, but I visualize the applications which one might make of them. I do not need to spend the time investigating the details present in full definitions and descriptions expressed as mathematical expressions, but I intend to the concepts represented by them. Though NotaMathematician, I still see like the farmer, baker and programmer some real and practical translations into real uses programatically my vision of these. -- DonaldNoyes ''So you don't have time nor inclination to learn the math but would like to use some of the fruits of the math. Not exactly unusual, but still, even so, what's the point of this page?'' In the first line of the page: "This is comes from someone who while a student of many subjects, and an enquirer into many appealing things, has come to the conclusion that you can use things you do not understand." I may some day find an inclination (need) to appropriate the time. I did mean to say that those who are not mathematicians cannot acquire the skills of the discipline, merely that some have chosen not yet to do so. -- DonaldNoyes ''It seems to me that this is time to recall "There is no royal road to geometry".'' And also: "You do not have to build a road to use it." ''And also: you're describing yourself as an amateur mathematician, not as a non-mathematician.'' ---- CategoryOrganization