Skip to main content
MathOverflow

You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

Required fields*

14
  • 39
    $\begingroup$ A research mathematician remembers results by using them. But judging by the number of upvotes this question has, there must be more to say than that... $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 27, 2013 at 10:04
  • 14
    $\begingroup$ What old math ? $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 27, 2013 at 10:09
  • 36
    $\begingroup$ I think you may be overestimating the cost of relearning. Having spent six years in proprietary trading after my D.Phil. (in geometry) I certainly forgot plenty of things but I also found I could pick them up again very quickly with the bonus that I usually understood them better the second time round. I would even go so far as to say I think this is often better than never forgetting in the first place. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 27, 2013 at 10:14
  • 114
    $\begingroup$ I find that blogging about material that I would otherwise forget eventually is extremely valuable in this regard. (I end up consulting my own blog posts on a regular basis.) EDIT: and now I remember I already wrote on this topic: terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/write-down-what-youve-done $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 27, 2013 at 14:41
  • 16
    $\begingroup$ I'd upvote Terry's comment multiple times if I could. In my case, I find that writing up material and uploading it to a place I can always find it (e.g., here, or to the nLab) is a great way to hammer mathematics into the brain. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 27, 2013 at 14:55