Alexander Dewdney famous quotes

Last updated: Sep 5, 2024

"The most powerful single idea in mathematics is the notion of a variable."
-- Alexander Dewdney

#Powerful #Math #Ideas

You may be sitting in a room reading this book. Imagine one note struck upon the piano. Immediately that one note is enough to change the atmosphere of the room - proving that the sound element in music is a powerful and mysterious agent, which it would be foolish to deride or belittle.
If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?
Pray tell us, what's your favorite number?
God is subtle but he is not malicious.
Since the mathematicians have invaded the theory of relativity I do not understand it myself any more.
Some of the greatest advances in mathematics have been due to the invention of symbols, which it afterwards became necessary to explain; from the minus sign proceeded the whole theory of negative quantities.
The question you raise, 'How can such a formulation lead to computations?' doesn't bother me in the least! Throughout my whole life as a mathematician, the possibility of making explicit, elegant computations has always come out by itself, as a byproduct of a thorough conceptual understanding of what was going on. Thus I never bothered about whether what would come out would be suitable for this or that, but just tried to understand - and it always turned out that understanding was all that mattered.
The science of pure mathematics, in its modern developments, may claim to be the most original creation of the human spirit.
Piglet was so excited at the idea of being Useful that he forgot to be frightened any more, and when Rabbit went on to say that Kangas were only Fierce during the winter months, being at other times of an Affectionate Disposition, he could hardly sit still, he was so eager to begin being useful at once.
Once I went to bed in Orlando and I woke up in Atlanta. I have no idea how that happened.

Alexander Dewdney famous quotes

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