Should authors or readers fill the gaps in mathematical arguments?

A LessWrong essay asks: who should fill the gaps in mathematical proofs—authors or readers? Small gaps are fine; readers mentally fill them in. Large gaps are different. A quantitative analysis shows that when a proof takes half a page to write fully, and readers encounter it thousands of times over decades, the author spending an hour saves enormous collective time. Here's the math: for one hundred thousand readers over a century, completing one proof saves roughly thirty-two years of labor. The conclusion: mathematics education should shift work from readers to writers.

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