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Quote by Hermann Weyl

“Logic is the hygiene the mathematician practices to keep his ideas healthy and strong.”

Quote by Hermann Weyl

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Hermann Weyl
Hermann Weyl

Hermann Weyl was a German mathematician born on November 9, 1885, and died on December 8, 1955. He made significant contributions to various fields of mathematics, including algebra, geometry, group theory, and mathematical physics, which had a profound impact on the development of mathematics in the 20th century. more

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“An axiomatic system establishes a reverberating relationship between what a mathematician assumes (the axioms) and what he or she can derive (the theorems). In the best of circumstances, the relationship is clear enough so that the mathematician can submit his or her reasoning to an informal checklist, passing from step to step with the easy confidence the steps are small enough so that he cannot be embarrassed nor she tripped up.”

“An axiomatic system comprises axioms and theorems and requires a certain amount of hand-eye coordination before it works. A formal system comprises an explicit list of symbols, an explicit set of rules governing their cohabitation, an explicit list of axioms, and, above all, an explicit list of rules explicitly governing the steps that the mathematician may take in going from assumptions to conclusions. No appeal to meaning nor to intuition. Symbols lose their referential powers; inferences become mechanical.”

“For the most part, it is true, ordinary men and women regard mathematics with energetic distaste, counting its concepts as rhapsodic as cauliflower. This is a mistake-there is no other word. Where else can the restless human mind find means to tie the infinite in a finite bow?”