ABSTRACT
A leading feature of disciplinary research methods is their directionality. Researchers want to examine a current social problem; they have ideas about why people do something; they want to resolve a theoretical issue. The technique of precise description is a way of discovering new research directions from within a swarming and indeterminate collection of research practices. Because precise description is a technique of active research, the author decided to illustrate it with new materials. His plan was to engage in a course of proving mathematical theorems, undertake the description of that process, and see what might be discovered. Several years ago a mathematician showed him a proof he'd discovered of a theorem in Euclid's Elements.
