“A Mathematician is someone who can take a cup of coffee and turn it into a theory.” TurnsTheoryMathematicsCoffeeCupsMathematicianCoffee Cup Author:Paul Erdos
“An old French mathematician said: "A mathematical theory is not to be considered complete until you have made it so clear that you can explain it to the first man whom you meet on the street." This clearness and ease of comprehension, here insisted on for a mathematical theory, I should still more demand for a mathematical problem if it is to be perfect; for what is clear and easily comprehended attracts, the complicated repels us.” IfsMenShouldFirstsMadeSaidStillsProblemPerfectClearStreetsTheoryDemandComplicatedMade ItMathematicalEaseMathematicianComprehensionClearnessMathematical Problems Author:David Hilbert
“We come finally, however, to the relation of the ideal theory to real world, or "real" probability. If he is consistent a man of the mathematical school washes his hands of applications. To someone who wants them he would say that the ideal system runs parallel to the usual theory: "If this is what you want, try it: it is not my business to justify application of the system; that can only be done by philosophizing; I am a mathematician". In practice he is apt to say: "try this; if it works that will justify it".” IfsMenWorldWantTryingRealDoneHandsRunningSchoolPracticeTheoryIdealsRelationMathematicsMathWhat You WantMathematicalConsistentJustifyReal WorldApplicationUsualMathematicianProbabilityParallels Author:John Edensor Littlewood
“It is obvious that mathematics needs both sorts of mathematicians, theory-builders and problem-solvers.” NeedsProblemTheoryMathematicsObviousMathematicianBuilderProblem Solvers Author:Timothy Gowers
“The mathematicians have been very much absorbed with finding the general solution of algebraic equations, and several of them have tried to prove the impossibility of it. However, if I am not mistaken, they have not as yet succeeded. I therefore dare hope that the mathematicians will receive this memoir with good will, for its purpose is to fill this gap in the theory of algebraic equations.” IfsHas BeensPurposeTheoryProveFindingsSolutionsDareMemoirGapsMathematicianMistakenEquationsImpossibilityGood Will Author:Niels Henrik Abel
“In geometry I find certain imperfections which I hold to be the reason why this science, apart from transition into analytics, can as yet make no advance from that state in which it came to us from Euclid. As belonging to these imperfections, I consider the obscurity in the fundamental concepts of the geometrical magnitudes and in the manner and method of representing the measuring of these magnitudes, and finally the momentous gap in the theory of parallels, to fill which all efforts of mathematicians have so far been in vain.” StatesReasonCertainEffortTheoryConceptsMethodFundamentalsVainReason WhyBelongingGapsTransitionImperfectionMathematicianParallelsGeometryObscurityRepresentingMagnitudeMeasuringAnalyticsEuclid Author:Nikolai Lobachevsky
“Two centuries ago Carl Friedrich Gauss, one of the greatest mathematicians and a founder of number theory, described his brainchild as "the queen of mathematics." Queens are regal, but they are also largely decorative, and this nuance was not lost on Gauss.” ArtTwoLostNumbersBeautyCenturyTheoryMathematicsQueensAestheticFoundersMathematicianNuanceRegal Author:Ian Stewart
“Democracy can't work. Mathematicians, peasants, and animals, that's all there is - so democracy, a theory based on the assumption that mathematicians and peasants are equal, can never work. Wisdom is not additive; its maximum is that of the wisest man in a given group.” MenGivenAnimalDemocracyGroupsTheoryEqualAssumptionMathematicianMaximumPeasantsWisestWisest ManAdditives Book:Glory Road Source: Glory Road
“A mathematician is a person who can find analogies between theorems; a better mathematician is one who can see analogies between proofs and the best mathematician can notice analogies between theories.” PersonsTheoryProofMathematicianAnalogiesTheorems Author:Stefan Banach