tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post9146109558304034874..comments2024-03-10T05:26:42.148-04:00Comments on My Biased Coin: SurveysMichael Mitzenmacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06738274256402616703noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-10344482760899145752009-11-15T07:53:21.403-05:002009-11-15T07:53:21.403-05:00A survey will interest the casual reader, who will...A survey will interest the casual reader, who will explain it to a child, who will end up pursuing the topic as a first rate mind.Geoff Knauthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12025560607512616605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-46980320167500327022009-11-15T06:55:19.217-05:002009-11-15T06:55:19.217-05:00Thanks for the links and writing the surveys.
Did...Thanks for the links and writing the surveys.<br /><br />Didnt Hamming in his famous lecture comment that for established researchers, a book is a bigger contribution than papers. I guess one could extend the comment for surveys.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-75899099845535832232009-11-13T16:05:00.171-05:002009-11-13T16:05:00.171-05:00Surveys are wonderful. I've cited yours on po...Surveys are wonderful. I've cited yours on power laws; it was quite useful as an academic counterpoint to some of the more "popular math" ones. And of course there's part of me that can't wait for the next survey on my topic of interest, since that's an automatic cite of my papers on the subject right there.<br /><br />But I understand why some people turn their noses up at them. Little (or none) of the content is original work, and, even though we spend far more time on other tasks than we do on the nuts and bolts of research, it's the "original contribution" which gets the glamor. It's the goal of the Ph.D. itself, and original work is romanticized in general culture; in <i>Rent</i>, the lead character's goal is to <i>write</i> "one great song," not perform it well or even succeed.<br /><br />And I'm sure there are people who see surveys as a "cheat"; not only do you have to do not research, but you get cited more than "substantive" papers! How dare you! Nevertheless, they're some of the most important papers in the world. I wonder how many man-years of redundancy has (or could have) been avoided thanks to a well-timed survey paper.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14749446395269735704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-32163796524495323312009-11-13T10:11:24.329-05:002009-11-13T10:11:24.329-05:00Hardy wrote: Exposition, criticism, appreciation, ...<i>Hardy wrote: Exposition, criticism, appreciation, is work for second-rate minds. I would disagree, and I would hope to encourage others to write surveys as well.<br /></i><br />Forgetting for the moment US-academia<br />style hyperbole (as exemplified by recommendation letters that we all read and write) -- lets remember in Hardy's book the first rate minds he had the opportunity to collaborate were those of Littlewood and Ramanujan. At the time he wrote these lines he did not consider himself to be first-rate either. So being second-rate by Hardy's criteria is pretty darn good. Not many (if any) TCS researchers will actually fall in that category. So no need to worry on this account -- write as many surveys as you want (I do think it is a very useful contribution to the community).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-26750178631351156712009-11-13T02:19:39.296-05:002009-11-13T02:19:39.296-05:00Gian-Carlo Rota pointed out that, as a mathematici...Gian-Carlo Rota pointed out that, as a mathematician, you will be remembered primarily for your expository work. So if you care about being remembered, that's reason enough to do a good survey.<br />http://www.math.vt.edu/people/day/advice/YMN4_25.htmlDavid Molnarhttp://www.dmolnar.comnoreply@blogger.com