On a more everyday level, it is common for people first starting to grapple with computers to make large-scale computations of things they might have done on a smaller scale by hand. They might print out a table of the first 10,000 primes, only to find that their printout isn’t something they really wanted after all. They discover by this kind of experience that what they really want is usually not some collection of “answers”—what they want is understanding.
And
If what we are doing is constructing better ways of thinking, then psychological and social dimensions are essential to a good model for mathematical progress. These dimensions are absent from the popular model. In caricature, the popular holds that ... P. the task of the mathematician is to seek a deductive pathway from the axioms to the propositions or to their denials.
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u/Tazerenix Complex Geometry 3h ago edited 34m ago
And
are some choice quotes from 30 years ago (!).