“A mathematical proof should resemble a simple and clear-cut constellation, not a scattered cluster in the Milky Way.”
― A Mathematician's Apology
― A Mathematician's Apology
“Archimedes will be remembered when Aeschylus is forgotten, because languages die and mathematical ideas do not. “Immortality” may be a silly word, but probably a mathematician has the best chance of whatever it may mean.”
― A Mathematician's Apology
― A Mathematician's Apology
“Working an integral or performing a linear regression is something a computer can do quite effectively. Understanding whether the result makes sense—or deciding whether the method is the right one to use in the first place—requires a guiding human hand. When we teach mathematics we are supposed to be explaining how to be that guide. A math course that fails to do so is essentially training the student to be a very slow, buggy version of Microsoft Excel.”
― How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking
― How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking
“To those who do not know mathematics it is difficult to get across a real feeling as to the beauty, the deepest beauty, of nature ... If you want to learn about nature, to appreciate nature, it is necessary to understand the language that she speaks in.”
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“Safety warning: never divide by zero unless a licensed mathematician is present.”
― How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking
― How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking
Elena’s 2025 Year in Books
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