It is wrong for a man to say that he is certain of the objective truth of any proposition unless he can produce evidence which logically justifies that certainty.
Thomas HuxleyRead
Mathematics may be compared to a mill of exquisite workmanship, which grinds you stuff of any degree of fineness; but, nevertheless, what you get out depends upon what you put in; and as the grandest mill in the world will not extract wheat-flour from peascods, so pages of formulae will not get a definite result out of loose data.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The output quality of mathematics relies on the quality of input data.
In this quote, Thomas Huxley compares mathematics to a finely crafted mill that processes inputs into outputs. He emphasizes that just like a mill cannot produce flour from peas, mathematics cannot yield meaningful results from poor or unstructured data. The quote highlights the essential relationship between inputs and outputs in analytical processes, underscoring the importance of quality data in achieving accurate conclusions.
Themes
MathematicsInputOutputDataQuality
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on data science, this quote can be used to emphasize the importance of quality data.
More from Thomas Huxley
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Let us have "sweet girl graduates" by all means. They will be none the less sweet for a little wisdom; and the "golden hair" will not curl less gracefully outside the head by reason of there being brains within.
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The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of childhood into maturity.
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It is the first duty of a hypothesis to be intelligible.
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Of the few innocent pleasures left to men past middle life, the jamming of common sense down the throats of fools is perhaps the keenest.
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