FOM: Accessible expositions of mathematics

[jshipman@bloomberg.net]

Harvey makes the reasonable point that f.o.m. (as it is
currently practiced) has more general intellectual interest
than "ordinary" mathematics AS IT IS CURRENTLY PRACTICED.  This
is not due the technical level of the work --  Harvey's own
research, for example, is very technically complex -- it is
because many f.o.m. problems and results can be stated in a way
that can be easily followed (even though the actual proofs might
be inaccessible to non-mathematicians).  The implicit criticism
of current professional practices in ordinary math is not
(necessarily) that research is misdirected; it's that exposition
to non-mathematicians has been seriously neglected.--Joe Shipman