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symbol pusher. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Etymology
From symbol pushing + -er.
Noun
symbol pusher (plural symbol pushers)
- (mathematics, somewhat derogatory) Someone who engages in symbol pushing; someone solving mathematical problems by manipulating symbols (as in algebra) rather than through visual or intuitive understanding.
1985, Jerry R. Hobbs, Robert C. Moore, Formal Theories of the Commonsense World, Ablex Pub., →ISBN, page 444:That is to say, in both cases we have in mind an intended model or structure for our theory. We are not in the position of mere "symbol pushers."
2003, Thomas R. Shultz, Computational Developmental Psychology, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 227:[…] it is clear that the symbol pusher does not understand Chinese at all; he is only following meaningless instructions. Because computer models, particularly of the symbolic variety, are merely manipulating symbols, and hence understand nothing about what they are doing, they are poor models.
2009, Paul J. Nahin, Mrs. Perkins's Electric Quilt, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 282:While known today as a theoretician, Einstein was not just a symbol pusher; the physics of D appears in much detail in his papers on Brownian motion.