Introduction to Lean for Programmers
The article discusses the author's journey in learning mathematics and programming through the lens of proof assistants like Lean. It highlights the challenges faced in traditional learning methods and the advantages of interactive proof assistants. The author emphasizes the connection between programming and mathematical proofs, particularly through the Curry-Howard correspondence.
- ▪The author transitioned from software engineering to data science, focusing on machine learning algorithms.
- ▪Traditional mathematics courses were tedious, leading the author to seek more interactive learning methods.
- ▪Lean serves as both a proof checker and assistant, enhancing the proof-building process with AI techniques.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Programming Introduction to Lean for Programmers The syntax and semantics of mathematics Ronen Lahat May 19, 2026 15 min read Share Infinite chessboard. Image generated by Grok (xAI) Intro to proof assistants I’m a software engineer who transitioned into data science, and I work daily with machine learning algorithms. I’m fascinated both by their apparent magic and by the mathematics that underlies them. Pry open any machine learning library and you’ll find mathematical tricks involving matrix decompositions, convolutions, Gaussian curves, and more. These, in turn, are built on even more fundamental axioms and rules, such as function application and logic. During my journey to learn these primitives, I collected a whole shelf of mathematics books, many of which now gather dust.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Towards Data Science.
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