[r-t] Hudson stuff

[Graham John]

Clarrie wrote:

> I regret to say that even my A'level Further Maths
> is so far back in the past that I have difficulty
> now recognising any of the language.  

I am totally with you on this one Clarrie - although I was good at it, I
didn't do maths beyond O-Level. While we can understand the concepts being
discussed as applied to ringing, the use of language and notation without
explanation make it difficult to follow. Those of us without a mathematical
background have used ringing literature such as exist, our own analysis, some
logic and intuition, together with some trial & error, some computer
assistance and perhaps some luck to produce reasonable results - but the
question is, would a grounding in group theory have helped?

How many ringing problems have actually been solved by the direct application
of group theory as opposed to original analysis and thought? For example, were
fch groups originally derived by specific application of theory, or by
practical application of some transposition and logic which was later
formalised in mathematical notation by Maurice Hodgson in 1962?

Graham