Mathematics Quotes - Page 32

• Apart from blunt truth, our lives sink decadently amid the perfume of hints and suggestions.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Life, Truth, Math

  Alfred North Whitehead (1967). “Adventures of Ideas”, p.250, Simon and Schuster

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• It is my experience that proofs involving matrices can be shortened by 50% if one throws the matrices out.

  Emil Artin

  Proof, Mathematical, Involving

  Emil Artin (2016). “Geometric Algebra”, p.14, Courier Dover Publications

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• In the broad light of day mathematicians check their equations and their proofs, leaving no stone unturned in their search for rigour. But, at night, under the full moon, they dream, they float among the stars and wonder at the miracle of the heavens. They are inspired. Without dreams there is no art, no mathematics, no life.

  Michael Atiyah

  Inspirational, Life, Dream

  Michael Atiyah (2014). “Michael Atiyah Collected Works: 2002-2013”, p.267, Oxford University Press, USA

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• Spending time with math people is a lot of fun. As a result of the play, I've had semi-drunken dinners with mathematicians all over the country. I recommend the experience.

  David Auburn

  Country, Fun, Math

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• Mathematics is a collection of cheap tricks and dirty jokes.

  Lipman Bers

  Dirty, Tricks, Mathematical

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• The origins of graph theory are humble, even frivolous.

  Norman L. Biggs

  Humble, Theory, Graphs

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• There are two versions of math in the lives of many Americans: the strange and boring subject that they encountered in classrooms and an interesting set of ideas that is the math of the world, and is curiously different and surprisingly engaging. Our task is to introduce this second version to today's students, get them excited about math, and prepare them for the future.

  Jo Boaler

  Education, Teacher, Math

  Jo Boaler (2015). “What's Math Got to Do with It?: How Teachers and Parents Can Transform Mathematics Learning and Inspire Success”, p.5, Penguin

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• Suppose that you want to teach the 'cat' concept to a very young child. Do you explain that a cat is a relatively small, primarily carnivorous mammal with retractible claws, a distinctive sonic output, etc.? I'll bet not. You probably show the kid a lot of different cats, saying 'kitty' each time, until it gets the idea. To put it more generally, generalizations are best made by abstraction from experience.

  Ralph P. Boas, Jr.

  Children, Cat, Kids

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• My special pleasure in mathematics rested particularly on its purely speculative part.

  Bernard Bolzano

  Special, Pleasure, Mathematical

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• Mathematics as we know it and as it has come to shape modern science could never have come into being without some disregard for the dangers of the infinite.

  David Bressoud

  Shapes, Infinite, Modern

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• The peculiar interest of magic squares and all lusus numerorum in general lies in the fact that they possess the charm of mystery. They appear to betray some hidden intelligence which by a preconceived plan produces the impression of intentional design, a phenomenon which finds its close analogue in nature.

  Paul Carus

  Lying, Squares, Design

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  To make a great dream come true, the first requirement is a great capacity to dream; the second is persistence.

  Cesar Chavez

  Dream, Persistence, Requirements

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• Everyone engaged in research must have had the experience of working with feverish and prolonged intensity to write a paper which no one else will read or to solve a problem which no one else thinks important and which will bring no conceivable reward - which may only confirm a general opinion that the researcher is wasting his time on irrelevancies.

  Noam Chomsky

  Writing, Thinking, Important

  Noam Chomsky (2013). “The Essential Chomsky”, p.24, The New Press

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• To many, mathematics is a collection of theorems. For me, mathematics is a collection of examples; a theorem is a statement about a collection of examples and the purpose of proving theorems is to classify and explain the examples.

  John B. Conway

  Example, Purpose, Mathematical

  John B. Conway (1981). “Subnormal Operators”, Pitman Advanced Publishing Program

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• The mathematical phenomenon always develops out of simple arithmetic, so useful in everyday life, out of numbers, those weapons of the gods: the gods are there, behind the wall, at play with numbers.

  Le Corbusier

  Wall, Simple, Play

  Le Corbusier (1968). “The modulor: a harmonious measure to the human scale, universally applicable to architecture and mechanics”

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• Mathematicians care no more for logic than logicians for mathematics.

  Augustus De Morgan

  Care, Logic, Mathematical

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• One cannot understand... the universality of laws of nature, the relationship of things, without an understanding of mathematics. There is no other way to do it.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Law, Understanding, Way

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• Inspiration is constantly in the air. It's up to us to develop the sensitivity to pick up on it.

  Herbie Hancock

  Inspiration, Air, Mathematical

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• Die mathematische Forschung besteht aus 10% Intuition und 90% Arbeit.

  Edmund Hlawka

  Intuition, Mathematical, Dies

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• Mathematics is an activity governed by the same rules imposed upon the symphonies of Beethoven, the paintings of DaVinci, and the poetry of Homer.

  Edward Kasner

  Symphony, Painting, Mathematical

  Edward Kasner, James Newman (2013). “Mathematics and the Imagination”, p.362, Courier Corporation

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• Mathematics is, in many ways, the most precious response that the human spirit has made to the call of the infinite.

  Cassius Jackson Keyser

  Way, Spirit, Infinite

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• The greatest reward for a student is not a good grade. It is the willingness of his teacher to listen to him.

  Nikolay Konstantinov

  Teacher, Rewards, Students

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• Every dimension is special.

  Jeffrey Lagarias

  Special, Dimensions, Mathematical

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• I regard it as an inelegance, or imperfection, in quaternions, or rather in the state to which it has been hitherto unfolded, whenever it becomes or seems to become necessary to have recourse to x, y, z, etc.

  William Rowan Hamilton

  Math, Imperfection, Etc

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• Mathematics has the inhuman quality of starlight, brilliant and sharp, but cold.

  Hermann Weyl

  Quality, Brilliant, Cold

  Hermann Weyl (2013). “Levels of Infinity: Selected Writings on Mathematics and Philosophy”, p.192, Courier Corporation

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