Talk:Michael Spivak

message: This book, in my opinion, is for students who appreciate the beauty of mathematics, one of the few absolutes in this world.  The best word to describe this book is "unique".  Its the first of its kind that most students will encounter in their lives.  It will most likely be confusing for beginners, and some might even find it useless as application is largely excluded.
Sadly, the author's intentions seem to be violated, as students always are required to rush through material.  Proofs are often memorized instead of being understood.
Book wrong, no such thing as interesting or appealing or pleasant or important or more or not etc, or that about simple or not, math is just a tool, ceptuxthesx, any be any intx etc no matter what. no such thing as embarax or ricx etc. say, claim/can say claim any no matter what  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lyhendl (talk • contribs) 17:36, 30 August 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Because it makes it appear to be merely an ordinary calculus text, whereas it takes a quite unusual approach. Michael Hardy 00:44, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

text: Well, Nathan Jacobson's "Basic Algebra 1" and "Basic Algebra 2" are algebra textbooks (graduate level).  Some people would think they're misleadingly titled since they sound like high school books.  Spivak's calculus book is maybe comparable to Tom M. Apostol's book and also to Richard Courant's book, which I think were both similarly titled "Calculus" and I'd describe it as a calculus book that's more theoretical than most, but not misleadingly titled.  I will try to rewrite that section of the article later.  Does anyone here have a copy?  Mine is long gone. Phr (talk) 04:26, 30 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Calculus by Michael Spivak 

message: I'm on the phone with him right now.  He is fine.   Phr (talk) 01:26, 31 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rumor is false 

message: Please do not revert the article back to its original form this time. It suffered from some severe structural problems and terrible writing. I've cleaned it up a bit and made it a tad more concise. CDiPoce 00:13, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Article Clean Up

message: Why is there a link to Vincent Lefèvre's site at the bottom of the page? The page, while amusing, mentions Spivak once, and does not really count as an external resource for us to know more about Michael Spivak. weixifan (talk) 20:40, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Yellow Pigs 

message: I think details about his "Comprehensive Introduction to Differential Geometry" would be far and away more interesting and informative than a list of places and courses that use his textbook "Calculus".  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.113.199.242 (talk) 06:19, 19 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Long list of what? 

message: This article is deficent in that it doesn't mention where MS did his work. Can anyone help? Or, perhaps I can see what I can come up with..
--Philopedia (talk) 12:49, 10 February 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Employers? 

message: There are a lot of unsourced statements in this section, most of them fun facts/miscellanea.  In the course of cleaning up this section, I have moved most of these into footnotes 8-10 (because they are amusing, and should be kept if verified). 
However, if no source other than word of mouth can be found, they don't meet the criteria for verifibility and should eventually be removed, especially because they concern a living person.
Alsosaid1987 (talk) 22:59, 30 July 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Unsources information in Writing section 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I haven't been able to find any sources for Michael Spivak's date and place of death (I would have expected at least a newspaper obituary). The only source given is a death verification letter, but obtaining one isn't easy if you don't live in the US. Are we entirely sure that this source is legitimate (and not, e.g. a death verification letter for someone else named Michael Spivak)? Edderiofer (talk) 05:23, 4 October 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: I think the death claim should be removed from the article until there's some verifiable source. There should at least be some notice in a mathematical publication about it somewhere. Otrebus (talk) 17:55, 31 October 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  Thought so; WP:BDP agrees that it should be removed, so I've removed it. If anyone can later find a more reliable source for this, they can feel free to add it back in with that source. Edderiofer (talk) 20:02, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

text:  Mike Spivak was a good friend and colleague for over 40 years.  His partner, who handled his business and personal affairs, did not publish a newspaper death notice nor let anyone know of his passing.  I hired a Houston private investigator in August 2021 to find Mike's whereabouts, which turned up nothing.  The investigator suggested I request a Verification of Death letter from the State of Texas which I did --- and found that he had passed away almost one year earlier.  A group of Mike's colleagues and I will be publishing a memorial to him in the AMS Notices sometime early next year.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bix17 (talk • contribs) 17:51, 3 November 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: When the memorial is published in a reliable source, then the article can be updated. Your personal knowledge on the subject and primary sources cannot be used as verification per policy.-- Jezebel's Ponyobons mots 18:25, 3 November 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Editing Mike Spivak's page last month to show his date of death was the first time I have used WikiPedia.  My colleagues who are working with me on a tribute to Mike all refused to use WikiPedia, so I gave it a shot.  Based on this experience and all the doubt about my source, which took a lot of time to secure, I will not be contributing to WP again.  You might want to look at your policy about proof of death coming from a "verifiable source" such as a math journal --- I asked the editor of the AMS Notices tribute we are writing how she would verify Mike's death and she sent a copy of the same Verification of Death letter from the State of Texas I provided her (and you).  So it seems there is no way that a journal, or a friend and colleague of Mike's such as myself, can furnish a verifiable source in the case of Michael David Spivak, which means he will be forever alive on WP. Bix17 (talk) 23:08, 3 November 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Wikipedia relies on information that is published in reliable sources (i.e. a source with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy). If we didn't have such policies, it would be possible for any single individual with access to a computer to add incorrect and/or unverifiable material to any article. Once the tribute is published it would be acceptable as a reliable source and the article can be updated accordingly. This also holds true if confirmation of Michael Spivak's death is published in any reliable source prior to the tribute you are a party to. I'm sorry that your Wikipedia experience has been frustrating, but I would hope that reading through the various policies and guidelines provided (e.g. WP:BLP, WP:RS and WP:V) would help you understand that we require a high-standard of sourcing to protect our article subjects and their families from the inclusion of potentially false and damaging material. -- Jezebel's Ponyobons mots 17:31, 4 November 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: OK fellas, there is now a reliable source giving Spivak's death as October 1, 2020 --- see TUGBoat remembrance (PDF) and TUGBoat remembrance (HTML) (TUGBoat, the TeX User Group journal has been around since 1980). Please add this appropriately so the article on Mike Spivak can be reverted to the version with his death date.  (I could try this myself, but cannot remember how to use all the meta-tags etc. which would take a lot of time.)  Thanks. Bix17 (talk) 04:13, 24 November 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: I have added a citation to Barbara Beeton's obituary in TUGBoat and edited the death dates.  I note as well that Beeton refers to Spivak's personal use of the Spivak pronouns, although she reports that he did not claim to have originated them. Fiske (talk) 00:28, 30 November 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Mike Spivak would have howled with glee if he knew that after his death he was briefly resurrected in Wikipedia --- for lack of a source of his death date. Bix17 (talk) 06:05, 1 December 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dead? (2020) 

message: We don't generally use nonstandard pronouns in Wikipedia's voice (except singular they). Did Spivak consistently use or request e, em for personal use, or was that a one-off for the Teχ book? ⁓ Pelagic ( messages ) 18:28, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: (This is in relation to Special:Diff/1060623078 by User:TheLadyGuinevere and Special:Diff/1060631701 by User:Dirkbb, who beat me to the revert.) ⁓ Pelagic ( messages ) 18:41, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pronouns