Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

My instructor for Epsilon Delta proofs and limits would always talk about "his cousin in Romania" picking the Epsilon and him picking the Delta.

i.e. forall epsilon > 0. exists delta > 0. forall d with |d| < delta. |f(x) - f(x+d)| < epsilon.

If we had a proof, no matter what epsilon his cousin from Romania picked, we could always find a new delta which would satify his cousin and let him pick the worst d in range.

This worked better than just saying "pick any epsilon", as it convayed the adversarial approach better.

Another book I read used the Devil as the one you are trying to convince, but it's nowhere near as fun as "his cousin from Romania".

 help



Consider applying for YC's Summer 2026 batch! Applications are open till May 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: