Samantha Vanegas’s Reviews > Mathematics for Human Flourishing > Status Update

“Thus, when a math explorer seeks important truths, she demands deep knowledge, investigates deeply, embodies intellectual humility, and is willing to revise her beliefs in light of new information. She handles ideas rigorously, with honesty and integrity. She values circumspection and clarification of distinctions. She handles the truth accurately.” (P111)

“Mathematics makes the mind its playground. Doing math properly is a kind of play: having fun with ideas that emerge when you explore patterns, and cultivating wonder about how things work.”

“People often think of abstraction as stripping away meaning. But in fact, abstraction does the opposite – it enriches meaning. When you see that two things have similar structure or behavior, then those similarities create a connection, a new meaning for you that wasn’t there before.”

“It seems to me that the poet has only to perceive that which others do not perceive, to look deeper than others look. And the mathematician must do the same thing.” (Sofia Kovalevskaya)

“…math skills are valuable, but they cannot serve as goals. The skills society needs from math may change, but the virtues needed from math will not.”