Talking about high-level mathematics with Le Dung Trang is a bit like trying to improvise with jazzman, John Coltrane. If you've got the language and the skills, you can fly very high. If not, you can feel on the outside of something you only think you understand. "Mathematicians can still communicate from one speciality to another, which is rare in other fields," explains Trang, head of mathematics at the ICTP, "but it's hard to explain anything to an outsider. If I wanted you to see a problem I am working on, I would have to explain it to you for a long time, reduce it to concepts you could grasp. Each step might be very easy, but the whole process needs years of training."
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