From: SINCLAIR  DOUGLAS N <sinclai@ecf.toronto.edu>
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 94 19:26:12 PDT
To: bwallet@mason1.gmu.edu (Bradley C Wallet)
Subject: Re: Perry vs. the Math Teacher
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9406172124.E513-0100000@mason1.gmu.edu>
Message-ID: <94Jun17.222604edt.11284@cannon.ecf.toronto.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


> but, there is a basic level of competancy that must b assumed...the big O 
> is a basic undergrad concept...same for the MOD function...if u hope to 
> ever study a specialty field such as cryptology, u have 2 know the basics...
> 
> u should already know undergrad math if u r gonna look at crypto 
> algorithms...
> 
> brad

By the same token, I might say that to communicate in a scholarly manner
one must know how to spell and punctuate with marks other than ellipses.
However, I will not.  As has been pointed out, each of us learned the
basic principles of math and cryptography somewhere.  If we can, in the
course of our discussions, bring others up to that level of understanding
then we will have accomplished much.

Certainly "big O notation" and the modulo operator are studied in undergrad
computer science and mathematics.  However, many of us have never studied
these things.  There are a number of high-school students on the list.  There
are people who have never had the oportunity to study technical subjects.
IMHO, these people are all welcome on cypherpunks and have much to contribute.
When I first joined the list, I was a self taught programmer and had never
been taught the formalisms of "big O notation".  We must not become a 
self-congratulatory elite.