Ronald Graham Quotes

• The trouble with integers is that we have examined only the very small ones. Maybe all the exciting stuff happens at really big numbers, ones we can't even begin to think about in any very definite way. Our brains have evolved to get us out of the rain, find where the berries are, and keep us from getting killed. Our brains did not evolve to help us grasp really large numbers or to look at things in a hundred thousand dimensions.

  Ronald Graham

  Rain, Math, Thinking

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• Someone has remarked that 'An ideal math talk should have one proof and one joke and they should not be the same'.

  Ronald Graham

  Math, Science, Should Have

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• Math is sometimes called the science of patterns.

  Ronald Graham

  Math, Patterns, Sometimes

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• AB=1/4((A+B)^2-(A-B)^2) is an amazing identity, and unfortunately, I have to remind my current students how to prove it.

  Ronald Graham

  Science, Identity, Students

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• Some people think that mathematics is a serious business that must always be cold and dry; but we think mathematics is fun, and we aren't ashamed to admit the fact. Why should a strict boundary line be drawn between work and play? Concrete mathematics is full of appealing patterns; the manipulations are not always easy, but the answers can be astonishingly attractive.

  Ronald Graham

  Education, Fun, Math

  Ronald L. Graham, Donald Ervin Knuth, Oren Patashnik (1989). “Concrete mathematics: a foundation for computer science”, Addison Wesley Publishing Company

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• I was reminded of the Sydney Harris cartoon that said 'adding two numbers that have not been added before does not constitute a mathematical breakthrough'.

  Ronald Graham

  Science, Two, Numbers

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• The ultimate goal of mathematics is to eliminate all need for intelligent thought.

  Ronald Graham

  Education, Math, Intelligent

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• Juggling is sometimes called the art of controlling patterns, controlling patterns in time and space.

  Ronald Graham

  Art, Space, Patterns

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• A lot of the high-level sports are really in your mind.

  Ronald Graham

  Sports, Mind, Levels

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• Well, as you know, there are 24 hours in every day. And if that's not enough, you've always got the nights!

  Ronald Graham

  Night, Hours, Enough

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• Someone has said that all the great jugglers are dead.

  Ronald Graham

  Science, Mathematics, Said

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• It wouild be very discouraging if somewhere down the line you could ask a computer if the Riemann hypothesis is correct and it said, 'Yes, it is true, but you won't be able to understand the proof.' John Horgan.

  Ronald Graham

  Understanding, Lines, Able

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• Incidentally, when we're faced with a "prove or disprove," we're usually better off trying first to disprove with a counterexample, for two reasons: A disproof is potentially easier (we need just one counterexample); and nitpicking arouses our creative juices. Even if the given assertion is true, our search for a counterexample often leads to a proof, as soon as we see why a counterexample is impossible. Besides, it's healthy to be skeptical.

  Ronald Graham

  Learning, Creative Juices, Two

  Ronald L. Graham, Donald Ervin Knuth, Oren Patashnik (1989). “Concrete mathematics: a foundation for computer science”, Addison Wesley Publishing Company

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