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Comment by jchw | Hacker News Reader

(regarding the current title of this submission, in case it gets changed:)

>This 67-year-old retiree solved a math problem–using Microsoft Word

What does Microsoft Word have to do with this? The fact that the document was typeset in Microsoft Word instead of LaTeX does not really sound remarkable.

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It's just blatant clickbait :(

> What does Microsoft Word have to do with this?

It's an indication that the person who solved it is an amateur, that's all.

'Amateur' would seem to conflict with 'retiree.'

Not really. You can be an expert in one field and an amateur in another.

Not just that, but that he did it with rudimentary tools.

Which is pretty thin. I wouldn't consider mathematicians of the pre-word-processor era amateurs.

No, he's not an amateur but a retired statistian. And the fact that LaTeX is the standard for DIY typesetting in academia nowadays has nothing to do with your competence as a mathematician, or the rigour of a proof published as a Word document. Likewise, it doesn't matter if you work with pen and paper or with pencil and paper.

This title is absurd.

Well it got me to click on it. Which in the end I’m pretty happy about; it was a very interesting article. Can clickbait be justifiable if the end product is good?

You're opening a can of worms there.

The word retiree is clickbait too. It hides the fact that he is a (retired) professional statistician.

The article is not about the math problem itself, it's also about MS Word starting to be used and accepted alongside LaTeX.

EDIT: I am wrong, I misunderstood the article

Not sure how you came to that conclusion. The article's actual title doesn't mention Word, and it seems to be a minor point in the article. It even goes on to say:

>> Richards notified a few colleagues and even helped Royen retype his paper in LaTeX to make it appear more professional.

I've re-read the article and you're right. I misunderstood the "Word is getting around" part. Sorry

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