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.

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