On 9-12-2010 21:29, Kevin Wampler wrote:
> On 12/9/2010 11:50 AM, Warp wrote:
>> Mike Raiford<"m[raiford]!at"@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf
>>
>> That reminds me vividly of something which I have noticed and realized
>> all by myself: I have never seen *anywhere* the *logical* explanation of
>> how you can easily calculate, for example, the sum of all the integers
>> from 1 to 100. It's *always* just the raw and sterile formula, and that's
>> it. No explanation, no intuitive nor logical way of deducing it. Just the
>> formula and that's it.
>
> I can't say I've had the same experience. I've seen plenty of
> explanations of that formula, probably more so than any equation other
> than the Pythagorean theorem.

mildly related http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd05xx/EWD538.PDF

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