>When a person spews several pages of complex math based on an
>extreme examples (as Best did), or gives an example based on a
>SWR that would make most calculators overflow (as you did), it
>probably does more harm than good to the people who are trying to
>learn.
>The poor bloke trying to understand what it all means is left with a
totally wrong impression.
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I find it hard to accept that covering extreme examples is "bad". One
of the classic methods in mathematical analysis is to start with the
"extreme special case" (Polya, "Induction and Analogy in
Mathematics" ) and then move to more general cases and specific
subsets of circumstances and parameters. Even though the "poor blokes'
may not follow the math or the reasoning, they at least are sensitized
to the fact that some special cases do exist. When they apply what
they have learned (from this reflector and other sources ) they may do
a little extra checking to be sure that they are not dealing with a
personal "extreme special case".
Tod, K0TO
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