Polya, George (1887-1985)
Even fairly good
students, when they
have obtained the
solution of the
problem and written
down neatly the
argument, shut their
books and look for
something else.
Doing so, they miss
an important and
instructive phase of
the work. ... A good
teacher should
understand and
impress on his
students the view
that no problem
whatever is
completely
exhausted.
One
of the first and
foremost duties of
the teacher is not
to give his students
the impression that
mathematical
problems have little
connection with each
other, and no
connection at all
with anything else.
We have a natural
opportunity to
investigate the
connections of a
problem when looking
back at its
solution.
How to Solve It.
Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
1945.
Polya, George (1887-1985)
In order to
translate a sentence
from English into
French two things
are necessary.
First, we must
understand
thoroughly the
English sentence.
Second, we must be
familiar with the
forms of expression
peculiar to the
French language. The
situation is very
similar when we
attempt to express
in mathematical
symbols a condition
proposed in words.
First, we must
understand
thoroughly the
condition. Second,
we must be familiar
with the forms of
mathematical
expression.
How to Solve It.
Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
1945.
Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
[Epitaph on
Newton:]
Nature
and Nature's law lay
hid in night:
God said, "Let
Newton be!," and all
was light.
[Added by Sir
John
Collings Squire:]
It did not last:
the Devil shouting
"Ho.
Let
Einstein be,"
restored the status
quo.
[Aaron
Hill's version:]
O'er Nature's laws
God cast the veil of
night,
Out
blaz'd a
Newton's soul and
all was light.
Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Order is Heaven's first law.
Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
See skulking Truth to her old cavern fled,
Mountains of Casuistry heap'd o'er her head!
Philosophy, that lean'd on Heav'n before,
Shrinks to her second cause, and is no more.
Physic of Metaphysic begs defence,
And Metaphysic calls for aid on Sense!
See Mystery to Mathematics fly!
In J. R. Newman (ed.) The World of Mathematics, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956.
Pordage, Matthew
One of the endearing things about mathematicians is the extent to which they will go to avoid doing any real work.
In H. Eves Return to Mathematical Circles, Boston: Prindle, Weber and Schmidt, 1988.
Proclus Diadochus (412 - 485)
It is well known that the man who first made public the theory of irrationals perished in a shipwreck in order that the inexpressible and unimaginable should ever remain veiled. And so the guilty man, who fortuitously touched on and revealed this aspect of living things, was taken to the place where he began and there is for ever beaten by the waves.
Scholium to Book X of Euclid V.
Purcell, E. and Varberg
The Mean Value Theorem is the midwife of calculus -- not very
important or glamorous by itself, but often helping to delivery other
theorems that are of major significance.
Calculus with Analytic Geometry, 5th edition, Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice Hall, 1987.
Pushkin, Aleksandr Sergeyevich (1799 - 1837)
Inspiration is needed in geometry, just as much as in poetry.