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Euclid Quotes

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Euclid Quotes

“They [the mathematicians of the Enlightenment] defined their terms vaguely and used their methods loosely, and the logic of their arguments was made to fit the dictates of their intuition. In short, they broke all the laws of rigor and of mathematical decorum. The veritable orgy which followed the introduction of the infinitesimals... was but a natural reaction. Intuition had too long been held imprisoned by the severe rigor of the Greeks. Now it broke loose, and there were no Euclids to keep its romantic flight in check.”

LongMadeLawUsedTermNaturalHistoryFitEnlightenmentArgumentLogicMethodIntuitionReactionsChecksFlightDefinedMathematicalBrokeGreekMathematicianSevereIntroductionRigorDecorumEuclid
Author:Tobias Dantzig
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“The anceints devoted a lifetime to the study of arithmetic; it required days to extract a square root or to multiply two numbers together. Is there any harm in skipping all that, in letting the school boy learn multiplication sums, and in starting his more abstract reasoning at a more advanced point. Where would be the harm in letting the boy assume the truth of many propositions of the first four books of Euclid, letting him assume their truth partly by faith, partly by trial?”

FirstsTwoBookWould BeSchoolTogetherNumbersBoysHistoryStudyFourRootsAssumingLifetimeStartingHarmTrialsAbstractReasoningSquaresDevotedPropositionsArithmeticMultiplicationEuclidSquare Roots
Author:John Perry
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“At the age of eleven, I began Euclid, with my brother as my tutor. ... I had not imagined that there was anything so delicious in the world. After I had learned the fifth proposition, my brother told me that it was generally considered difficult, but I had found no difficulty whatsoever. This was the first time it had dawned on me that I might have some intelligence.”

WorldFirstsMightAgeScienceFoundDifficultBrotherFirst TimeDifficultyMy BrotherBiographiesPropositionsDeliciousFifthElevenTutorEuclid
Book:Autobiography
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“The early study of Euclid made me a hater of geometry.”

MadeStudyGeometryEuclid
Book:The Laws of Verse: Or Principles of Versification Exemplified in Metrical Translations, Together with an Annotated Reprint of the Inaugural Presidential Address to the Mathematical and Physical Section of the British Association at Exeter
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