Silvanus Phillips Thompson > Quotes

“Considering how many fools can calculate, it is surprising that it should be thought either a difficult or a tedious task for any other fool to learn how to master the same tricks.

Some calculus-tricks are quite easy. Some are enormously difficult. The fools who write the textbooks of advanced mathematics - and they are mostly clever fools - seldom take the trouble to show you how easy the easy calculations are. On the contrary, they seem to desire to impress you with their tremendous cleverness by going about it in the most difficult way.

Being myself a remarkably stupid fellow, I have had to unteach myself the difficulties, and now beg to present to my fellow fools the parts that are not hard. Master these thoroughly, and the rest will follow. What one fool can do, another can.”
― Silvanus Phillips Thompson, Calculus Made Easy

“What one fool can do, another can.”
― Silvanus Phillips Thompson, Calculus Made Easy

“What one fool can do, another can.
(Ancient Simian Proverb.)”
― Silvanus P. Thompson, Calculus Made Easy - Silvanus P. Thompson [Literature Classics Series]

“This gives us our instructions as to how to differentiate a quotient of two functions. Multiply the divisor function by the derivative of the dividend function; then multiply the dividend function by the derivative of the divisor function; and subtract. Lastly divide by the square of the divisor function. This is called the Quotient Rule.  Example 6.3. Going back to our example , write ​ and ​ Then  ​ (Answer) The working out of quotients is often tedious, but there is nothing difficult about it.”
― Silvanus Phillips Thompson, Calculus Made Easy: A Fresh Look at a Classic Masterpiece. Extensively Modernized and Enhanced

“If  and  be the lengths of a rod of iron at the temperatures ​C. and ​C. respectively, then . Find the change of length of the rod per degree centigrade.”
― Silvanus Phillips Thompson, Calculus Made Easy: A Fresh Look at a Classic Masterpiece. Extensively Modernized and Enhanced