Hey, I was listening to the steve yegge podcast (#29, around 21:29), and in part of it, they were talking about "how to tell if the person you're talking to is smart", and they said that one way was to talk about "smart people things" (I'm paraphrasing), like "piano numbers" and "lambda calculus".
I'm secure enough to admit that I'm not the smartest person in the world, but even google can't seem to tell me what a "piano number" is. So, did I mis-hear what was said on the podcast? Can anyone tell me what a "piano number" is?
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+7
A:
Peano perhaps?
In mathematical logic, the Peano axioms, also known as the Dedekind-Peano axioms or the Peano postulates, are a set of axioms for the natural numbers presented by the 19th century Italian mathematician Giuseppe Peano. These axioms have been used nearly unchanged in a number of metamathematical investigations, including research into fundamental questions of consistency and completeness of number theory.
Paul Dixon
2008-12-08 15:45:14
+2
A:
He probably meant Peano numbers. Guiseppe Peano was a mathematician.
Mendelt
2008-12-08 15:45:54
+13
A:
Being Smart and having a certain knowledge base is not the same thing.
I'd be wary of listening to anyone that is equating the two.
And in true SO fashion, I'm going to roll up the other answers. Most likely they meant Peano:
Chris Lively
2008-12-08 15:47:35
That's the first thing I thought when I saw this question. Being smart of having knowledge from a specific domain are completely different thing. Though interviews VERY often confuse the two, being able to distinguish the difference is the key between good hires and great hires.
rwmnau
2008-12-08 15:55:42
+2
A:
Those who equate intelligence with knowledge have a deficiency in both.
(Please note that I'm not specifying the size of the deficiency, especially in the case of Yegge.)
I knew nothing of either of those subjects when I took the Mensa exam, and it didn't stop me (blush!) scoring pretty well.
jTresidder
2008-12-08 16:04:52
I'd wager "Mensa" caused the -1, but I'd take issue with your other statement as well. Experts in a field may lose sight of how much stuff they had to learn in order to become an expert, and lose the empathy required to understand why other people struggle with the concepts they know so well.
Jeremy Frey
2008-12-08 16:18:08
Sheesh, +1 to counter the pettiness... There's a correlation between education and intelligence, but you're right, they're not equal and thinking they are is misguided.
JoeBloggs
2008-12-09 14:38:42
@JeremyZX: Losing sight of something that is a reality would be a deficiency, no? And not being able to understand a causation that one previously understood, that would also be a deficiency, wouldn't it?
JoeBloggs
2008-12-15 15:14:34
@jeremyZX: Re Mensa: Aye, I probably didn't help by wording it the way I did, but that kind of thing is inevitable. Meh :) Re losing empathy: I don't understand how that disagrees with my view? It seems to me like an explanation for, rather than an argument against.
jTresidder
2009-02-04 18:21:50
+3
A:
OTOH, it might be a good test of character to talk about something completely made-up (such as "Piano numbers") and see who pretends to be knowledgeable about it.
Michael Borgwardt
2008-12-08 16:05:49
+1
A:
You can find an implementation of Peano ideas, in the wikipedia article on lambda calculus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda_calculus
More on lambda calculus, lamdba expression and related uses in dynamic languages:
http://delicious.com/ajlopez/lambda
I'm working in a simple implementation of lambda calculus using C# http://code.google.com/p/ajcodekatas/source/browse#svn/trunk/AjLambda