Why are numbers beautiful? It’s like asking why is Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony beautiful._x000D_ If you don’t see why, someone can’t tell you. I know numbers are beautiful._x000D_ If they aren’t beautiful, nothing is.
Paul ErdosRead
It will be another million years, at least, before we understand the primes.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the vast complexities that lie in understanding prime numbers.
In this quote, Paul Erdos highlights the inherent difficulty and mystery surrounding prime numbers, which are the building blocks of number theory. He suggests that, despite the significant advances in mathematics, there remains a long journey ahead in unraveling the secrets and patterns associated with primes, indicating that true comprehension may be far off in the future.
Themes
PrimesMathematicsUnderstandingComplexityTheory
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on number theory, a professor might use this quote to illustrate the challenges mathematicians face.
More from Paul Erdos
All quotes →A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems.
Paul ErdosRead
If numbers aren't beautiful, I don't know what is.
Paul ErdosRead
Similar quotes
More than any other product of human scientific culture scientific knowledge is the collective property of all mankind.
Konrad LorenzRead
We are in a fool's climate, accidentally kept cool by smoke, and before this century is over billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable.
James LovelockRead
You're never going to get the amount of CO2 emitted to go down unless you deal with the one magic metric, which is CO2 per kilowatt-hour.
Bill GatesRead
Now I'm a scientific expert; that means I know nothing about absolutely everything.
Arthur C. ClarkeRead
The art of doing science is doing the important things first.
Sydney BrennerRead
Science, at bottom, is really anti-intellectual. It always distrusts pure reason, and demands the production of objective fact.
H. L. MenckenRead