[Home]Trivial

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MathMo / CompSci speak for "difficult".
Trivial, adj - a response to a concept (esp. mathematical proof) that is easy to understand but near-impossible to prove.

Actually, I think the CompSci preferred version is 'Obvious'.

It is trivially obvious that... -- Senji
I prefer to use Trivial for problems, Obvious for facts, and Evident for conclusions --Mjb67

Words beloved of question sheet answerers everywhere - Trivially, AndThusBySymmetry?, ByInspection, Obviously?. --Requiem

There once was a maths/compsci lecturer who was in the middle of a lecture on some obscure proof or other. At some point in the proceedings, he declares an assertion as "obvious", whereupon a student calls out "is it?"  The lecturer pauses for a minute scratching his head, then starts to pace back and forth in front of the students. After five minutes or so, he walks straight out of the lecture hall, leaving a bunch of reasonably amused students. Ten minutes later, he bursts back into the lecture hall clutching a few sheets of written paper, declares to the class "Yes, it is obvious", and carries on with the lecture.



CategoryLanguage
See Also: NonTrivial, Tricky


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