Are mathematical ideas invented or discovered? This question has been repeatedly posed by philosophers through the ages and will probably be with us forever.
A mathematician's work is mostly a tangle of guesswork, analogy, wishful thinking and frustration, and proof, far from being the core of discovery, i… - Gian-Carlo Rota
A mathematician's work is mostly a tangle of guesswork, analogy, wishful thinking and frustration, and proof, far from being the core of discovery, i…
- Gian-Carlo Rota
We often hear that mathematics consists mainly of "proving theorems." Is a writer's job mainly that of "writing sentences?" - Gian-Carlo Rota
We often hear that mathematics consists mainly of "proving theorems." Is a writer's job mainly that of "writing sentences?"
Combinatorics is an honest subject. No adèles, no sigma-algebras. You count balls in a box, and you either have the right number or you haven't. You … - Gian-Carlo Rota
Combinatorics is an honest subject. No adèles, no sigma-algebras. You count balls in a box, and you either have the right number or you haven't. You …
Mathematics is the study of analogies between analogies. All science is. Scientists want to show that things that don't look alike are really the sam… - Gian-Carlo Rota
Mathematics is the study of analogies between analogies. All science is. Scientists want to show that things that don't look alike are really the sam…
Mathematicians also make terrible salesmen. Physicists can discover the same thing as a mathematician and say 'We've discovered a great new law of na… - Gian-Carlo Rota
Mathematicians also make terrible salesmen. Physicists can discover the same thing as a mathematician and say 'We've discovered a great new law of na…
Why is it that Serge Lange's Linear Algebra, published by no less a Verlag than Springer, ostentatiously displays the sale of a few thousand copies o… - Gian-Carlo Rota
Why is it that Serge Lange's Linear Algebra, published by no less a Verlag than Springer, ostentatiously displays the sale of a few thousand copies o…
The lack of real contact between mathematics and biology is either a tragedy, a scandal or a challenge, it is hard to decide which. - Gian-Carlo Rota
The lack of real contact between mathematics and biology is either a tragedy, a scandal or a challenge, it is hard to decide which.
Every lecture should state one main point and repeat it over and over, like a theme with variations. An audience is like a herd of cows, moving slowl… - Gian-Carlo Rota
Every lecture should state one main point and repeat it over and over, like a theme with variations. An audience is like a herd of cows, moving slowl…
Every field has its taboos. In algebraic geometry the taboos are (1) writing a draft that can be followed by anyone but two or three of one's closest… - Gian-Carlo Rota
Every field has its taboos. In algebraic geometry the taboos are (1) writing a draft that can be followed by anyone but two or three of one's closest…
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