A reading protocol is a set of strategies that a reader must use in order to benefit fully from reading the text. Poetry calls for a different set of strategies than fiction, and fiction a different set than non-fiction. page 
Mathematics has a reading protocol all its own, and just as we learn to read literature, we should learn to read mathematics.
Mathematical ideas are by nature precise and well defined, so that a precise description is possible in a very short space. The beauty in a mathematics article is in the elegant efficient way it concisely describes precise ideas of great complexity.
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The author develops the analogies between reading fiction, poetry and mathematics.
Six tips follow with explanations.
Then the birthday paradox, 50-50 chance of same birthday in a room of 23 people, is developed as a formula, and, examined as a cautious reader might read it. Most tips are thereby illustrated.
Practice: Random is a website devoted to probability, mathematical statistics, and stochastic processes, and is intended for teachers and students. site