How much of this explainer however seems better to us precisely because of the more comprehensive knowledge and understanding we already have?
For example the author uses the word function liberally in the explanation. However, when studying functions in school in math it was super complicated for me. It was only after I started programming, learning the programming language meaning of function, and then when I was reintroduced to mathematical functions through functional programming that I truly grasped mathematical functions and all the stuff I was taught in school.
I’m not arguing that school level math does not need to be improved. I just think we should be cautious that because an explanation that seems intuitive to us now after having gained a complete introduction to all math concepts as well as programming (esp on HN) may not necessarily be as intuitive when students who are only exposed to a very small subset of mathematical concepts encounter them.
For example the author uses the word function liberally in the explanation. However, when studying functions in school in math it was super complicated for me. It was only after I started programming, learning the programming language meaning of function, and then when I was reintroduced to mathematical functions through functional programming that I truly grasped mathematical functions and all the stuff I was taught in school.
I’m not arguing that school level math does not need to be improved. I just think we should be cautious that because an explanation that seems intuitive to us now after having gained a complete introduction to all math concepts as well as programming (esp on HN) may not necessarily be as intuitive when students who are only exposed to a very small subset of mathematical concepts encounter them.