My belief is that nothing that can be expressed by mathematics cannot be expressed by careful use of literary words.
Interpretation
Mathematics and literature can both effectively convey complex ideas.
Paul Samuelson's quote emphasizes the idea that the clarity and precision of mathematics can also be mirrored through the careful use of language. It suggests that while mathematics is often seen as a rigid and purely logical field, the ability to articulate concepts through words can equally express complex thoughts, showcasing the power of language and its importance alongside mathematical reasoning.
In practice
During a lecture on the importance of interdisciplinary studies, I could cite this quote to underline how both math and literature convey profound truths.
To a person of analytical ability, perceptive enough to realise that mathematical equipment was a powerful sword in economics, the world of economics was his or her oyster in 1935. The terrain was strewn with beautiful theorems begging to be picked up and arranged in unified order.
I can't think of a president who has been overburdened by a knowledge of economics.
Politicians like to tell people what they want to hear - and what they want to hear is what won't happen.
My family was well off but not rich. I spent the four years I was an undergraduate working on the beach. And it wasn't because I was lazy; it was because my freshman class would go to a hundred different employers and wouldn't get a nibble. That was a disequilibrium system. I realized that the ordinary old-fashioned Euclidean geometry didn't apply.
Economics has never been a science - and it is even less now than a few years ago.
There's nothing in Keynesian economics that would allow you to solve stagflation. But there's nothing in neoclassical economics that would allow you to solve stagflation, either.
Wrong education and upbringing produces ugly personalities, whereas a fine upbringing and good education will bring forth superior sense and feeling, as well as nobility and purity of mind.
History offers us vicarious experience. It allows the youngest student to possess the ground equally with his elders; without a knowledge of history to give him a context for present events, he is at the mercy of every social misdiagnosis handed to him.
The methodologies of examining hip hop are borrowed from sociology, politics, religion, economics, urban studies, journalism, communications theory, American studies, transatlantic studies, black studies, history, musicology, comparative literature, English, linguistics, and other disciplines.
If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves.
I want to use television not only to entertain, but to help people lead better lives.
I loved teaching, but every day that I went to work, I carried the worry that I was hurting my kids because I wasn't at home with them.
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