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I am very sensitive about this thread, since I am teaching a course about "teaching Mathematics", so I am deeply interested in what people think - more or less consciously -about maths.
The first comment is about the relation
maths= equations
A lot of maths is done without equations or numbers at all, and usually mathematicians don't like to computate - indeed, there are a lot of attempts to let the computer computate even algebraic calculus, to avoid mistakes, and boring computations
All the greek geometry was developed without equations...
Just after Descartes, and the cartesian coordinates, they have been used, as a powerful tool. but even now, a proof made without coordinates is considered somehow more elegant.
In this context, we could say that an asymptote to a given curve is a "tangent" to the curve in a point "at the infinity".
The second comment is about "really smart math guys"
I know that it was not intended to say anything not polite, (please, please, don't be offended) but it seems express the idea that maths is a Male stuff. I deeply disagree with that.
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"The second comment is about "really smart math guys"
I know that it was not intended to say anything not polite, (please, please, don't be offended) but it seems express the idea that maths is a Male stuff."
First, Im not offended. And I'm aware that the connotation of "guys" is "generally" masculine. However, I was using it, as I often have, in a neutral sense. I have been guilty of saying to a class of students of both genders, things such as, "You guys better not be late." No one thought I was excluding the ladies from this warning. It may be generational or regional, but I've also heard the term "fellas" used in the same way.
Mrs. Rice, my 10th grade algebra teacher, would speak on my behalf, if she were here.
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Dear emanuela: I'm not sure how you define "equation". Geometry has many
statements of equality, there is addition, subtraction, amd division (I think), just
no algebra.
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I never use the term "fellas" at all, much less to address a gender-mixed group, but my m-i-l always announced dinner that way ("You fellas ready to eat?"), and it was clear that the question was addressed to everyone.
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http://www.cut-the-knot.org/ctk/pww.shtml
http://www.sunsite.ubc.ca/LivingMathematics/V001N01/UBCExamples/Pythagoras/pythagoras.html
Just two examples, to explain what I was meaning.
And, JohnHaway, thank you for the explainations.
Not having English as a mother tongue, I can miss subtilities... for example, I learnt "guys and gals" here in Awad, but never encountered "guys" in a mixed sense.
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This thread is pretty much beyond my comprehension, but I must tell you, emanuela, that to me it's usually OK to use 'guys' or 'fellas' to mean both sexes. It depends on the context -- but I use it myself, all the time. Ciao, bello!* ~~~ *this is a joke. 
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etymology of "fellow" interests me.
fellow - O.E. feolaga "partner," from O.N. felagi, from fe
"money" + verbal base denoting "lay." Sense is of "one who
puts down money with another in a joint venture." Used
familiarly since M.E. for "man, male person," but not
etymologically masculine. University senses evolved from
notion of "one of the corporation who constitute a college"
and who are paid from its revenues. At one fell swoop is
from "Macbeth." Fellow-feeling (1613) attempted to
translate L. compassio and Gk. sympatheia. First record of
fellow-traveller "one who sympathizes with the Communist
movement but is not a party member," is from 1936,
translating Rus. poputchik.
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etymology of "fellow"
My Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary lists feolaga as masc. Being a Germanic language, English gives the gender of the last element in a compound word to the word as a whole. The word laga, law is masculine and feoh, cattle specifically, or property or money in general is neuter. Whether or not it is related to any verbal base denoting "lay" is not addressed.
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