“Mystery is an inescapable ingredient of mathematics. Mathematics is full of unanswered questions, which far outnumber known theorems and results. It's the nature of mathematics to pose more problems than it can solve. Indeed, mathematics itself may be built on small islands of truth comprising the pieces of mathematics that can be validated by relatively short proofs. All else is speculation.” MayProblemResultsKnownPiecesMysteryBuiltLogicMathematicsSolveProofCertaintyUncertaintyIslandsReasoningIngredientsSpeculationOntologyTheoremsUnanswered QuestionsUnanswered Author:Ivars Peterson
“Mathematics is not arithmetic. Though mathematics may have arisen from the practices of counting and measuring it really deals with logical reasoning in which theorems-general and specific statements-can be deduced from the starting assumptions. It is, perhaps, the purest and most rigorous of intellectual activities, and is often thought of as queen of the sciences.” MayScienceDealsPracticeActivityIntellectualAccountsMathematicsStartingStatementsQueensAssumptionReasoningLogicalCountingMeasuringArithmeticTheoremsLogical Reasoning Author:Christopher Zeeman
“The story does what no theorem can quite do. It may not be "like real life" in the superficial sense: but it sets before us an image of what reality may well be like at some more central region.” WellsMayDoeRealStoriesRealityReal LifeRegionsSuperficialTheorems Book:Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories Source: Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories