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Post Closed as "Opinion-based" by Stephan Kolassa, user68958, xxxxxxxxx, Dmitry Grigoryev, Richard Erickson
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Grammatical improvements.
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edit approved May 12, 2019 at 21:21
Andrew Morton
edit approved May 12, 2019 at 21:21
Andrew Morton
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Many academic papers, particularly in mathematics and similar fields, use the phrase "it is easy to see that..." (e.g. in a mathaticalmathematical proof). I never understood why this sentence is used. Such a sentence is inaccurate at best, since it is not easy for for everyoneeveryone to see; maybe it is easy for the author or to some of the readers, but there are certainly readers to whom it is not easy. Authors often try to shorten their paper as much as possible, so it is not clear why they would lengthen their paper by an inaccurate sentence.

Is there any good reason for an author to use this phrase?

Many academic papers, particularly in mathematics and similar fields, use the phrase "it is easy to see that..." (e.g. in a mathatical proof). I never understood why this sentence is used. Such a sentence is inaccurate at best, since it is not easy for everyone to see; maybe it is easy for the author or to some of the readers, but there are certainly readers to whom it is not easy. Authors often try to shorten their paper as much as possible, so it is not clear why they would lengthen their paper by an inaccurate sentence.

Is there any good reason for an author to use this phrase?

Many academic papers, particularly in mathematics and similar fields, use the phrase "it is easy to see that..." (e.g. in a mathematical proof). I never understood why this sentence is used. Such a sentence is inaccurate at best, since it is not easy for everyone to see; maybe it is easy for the author or some of the readers, but there are certainly readers to whom it is not easy. Authors often try to shorten their paper as much as possible, so it is not clear why they would lengthen their paper by an inaccurate sentence.

Is there any good reason for an author to use this phrase?

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Erel Segal-Halevi
Erel Segal-Halevi
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Is there any good reason to write "it is easy to see"?

Many academic papers, particularly in mathematics and similar fields, use the phrase "it is easy to see that..." (e.g. in a mathatical proof). I never understood why this sentence is used. Such a sentence is inaccurate at best, since it is not easy for everyone to see; maybe it is easy for the author or to some of the readers, but there are certainly readers to whom it is not easy. Authors often try to shorten their paper as much as possible, so it is not clear why they would lengthen their paper by an inaccurate sentence.

Is there any good reason for an author to use this phrase?