NOTE: This article was begun on October 25th, 2005, slightly less than one month AFTER Dr. Duncan Watts’ Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age (c. 2003, W. W. Norton & Company) came into my posession.
Although I believe the basic concept advanced herein was uniquely conceived by me under no influence from this or other sources, I have since become aware that Dr. Watts’ much earlier publication utilizes a very similar (if less elaborate) categorization scheme in its “Further Reading” section and I must acknowledge such precedence and the possibility that I might have been influenced by, and subsequently forgotten, or unconciously picked up on the basic concept.
Either way, whether this represents a coincident re-invention on my part or an unconscious borrowing, I believe there is much to be gained through the use of such markers to alert readers to the intellectual ‘terrain’ ahead. I also feel that the addition of optional subsets of symbols adding an additional degree of detail to the basic glyphs with minimal added complexity, contributes to the utility of the concept as a whole.
= WARNING Contains Basic Mathematics: Arithmetic
= WARNING Contains Intermediate Mathematics: Algebra
= WARNING Contains Intermediate Mathematics: Trigonometry
= WARNING Contains Advanced Mathematics: Unspecified or Various
= WARNING Contains Advanced Mathematics: Statistics
= WARNING Contains Advanced Mathematics: Calculus
= WARNING Contains Advanced Mathematics: Extreme Calculus
= WARNING Contains Advanced Mathematics: Differential Equations
Smaller versions could be used in-line with references:
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Repeated symbols convey increasing levels of difficulty:
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