Mathematics is not yet ready for such problems.
[Attributed by Paul Halmos.]
The American Mathematical Monthly, Nov. 1992
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Loci: Convergence
Mathematical Quotations
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Rota, Gian-Carlo
We often hear that mathematics consists mainly of "proving theorems." Is a writer's job mainly that of "writing sentences"?
Russell, Bertrand (1872-1970)
How dare we speak of the laws of chance? Is not chance the antithesis of all law?
Russell, Bertrand (1872-1970)
Although this may seem a paradox, all exact science is dominated by the idea of approximation.
Russell, Bertrand (1872-1970)
At the age of eleven, I began Euclid, with my brother as my tutor. This was one of the great events of my life, as dazzling as first love. I had not imagined there was anything so delicious in the world. From that moment until I was thirty-eight, mathematics was my chief interest and my chief source of happiness.
Russell, Bertrand (1872-1970)
A good notation has a subtlety and suggestiveness which at times make it almost seem like a live teacher.
Russell, Bertrand (1872-1970)
If I were a medical man, I should prescribe a holiday to any patient who considered his work important.
Russell, Bertrand (1872-1970)
Ordinary language is totally unsuited for expressing what physics really asserts, since the words of everyday life are not sufficiently abstract. Only mathematics and mathematical logic can say as little as the physicist means to say.
Russell, Bertrand (1872-1970)
With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway about the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.
Russell, Bertrand (1872-1970)
At first it seems obvious, but the more you think about it the stranger the deductions from this axiom seem to become; in the end you cease to understand what is meant by it.
Russell, Bertrand (1872-1970)
Calculus required continuity, and continuity was supposed to require the infinitely little; but nobody could discover what the infinitely little might be.