I remember Siklos went off into a 10 minute riff in the middle of one of his lectures about a book (Anna Karenina?) the main character of which saw this great vase on the stairs of his girlfriend's house and immediately *knows* he will eventually break it; at the end of the book he's chasing after her, or running away or something, and does. The point was that knowing you'll make the mistake doesn't stop you, but makes you feel stupid afterwards. And there was a term in the equation he was teaching us he said we would always forget, and then when it didn't work, remember this story.
At the time I thought it was a wonderful aide memoir... but I've since forgotten both the name of the book, and the term (Jacobian?).
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Date: 2004-07-23 04:22 am (UTC)At the time I thought it was a wonderful aide memoir... but I've since forgotten both the name of the book, and the term (Jacobian?).