Steven Strogatz famous quotes

Last updated: Sep 5, 2024

Logic leaves us no choice. In that sense, math always involves both invention and discovery: we invent the concepts but discover their consequences. â€¦ in mathematics our freedom lies in the questions we ask â€“ and in how we pursue them â€“ but not in the answers awaiting us.
-- Steven Strogatz

#Lying #Math #Discovery
In mathematics, our freedom lies in the questions we ask â€” and in how we pursue them â€” but not in the answers awaiting us.
-- Steven Strogatz

#Lying #Answers #Mathematics
One of the pleasures of looking at the world through mathematical eyes is that you can see certain patterns that would otherwise be hidden.
-- Steven Strogatz

#Eye #World #Patterns
When you love a problem, its contours, obstacles and resistances are all just part of its character.
-- Steven Strogatz

#Character #Resistance #Obstacles
When you create something new, you're breaking tradition - which is an act of defiance.
-- Steven Strogatz

#Tradition #Something New #Defiance
The frequencies of the notes in a scaleâ€”do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, doâ€”sound to us like theyâ€™re rising in equal steps. But objectively their vibrational frequencies are rising by equal multiples. We perceive pitch logarithmically.
-- Steven Strogatz

#Rising #Steps #Sound
Change is most sluggish at the extremes precisely because the derivative is zero there.
-- Steven Strogatz

#Zero #Derivatives #Extremes
I loved this smart, funny, big-hearted novel. As hilarious and wise as early Philip Roth, The Mathematician's Shiva will delight and move you.
-- Steven Strogatz

#Wise #Smart #Moving
Looking at numbers as groups of rocks may seem unusual, but actually it's as old as math itself. The word "calculate" reflects that legacy - it comes from the Latin word calculus, meaning a pebble used for counting. To enjoy working with numbers you don't have to be Einstein (German for "one stone"), but it might help to have rocks in your head.
-- Steven Strogatz

#Latin #Math #Rocks

I walk up a dune to a beach and look out to sea, but it's 100km away. The ships lie askew in their dry beds, at anchor for ever. Today is my son's birthday. Thousands of miles from here, his healthy lungs are blowing out candles. I should be there but I'm here with another boy, who puts his face close to mine and laughs. I smile back but realise he can't see it, because I'm wearing an antiseptic muzzles to protect me from his breath.
White in the moon the long road lies, The moon stands blank above; White in the moon the long road lies That leads me from my love. Still hangs the hedge without a gust, Still, still the shadows stay: My feet upon the moonlit dust Pursue the ceaseless way. The world is round, so travellers tell, And straight through reach the track, Trudge on, trudge on, 'twill all be well, The way will guide one back. But ere the circle homeward hies Far, far must it remove: White in the moon the long road lies That leads me from my love.
Lovers lying two and two Ask not whom they sleep beside, And the bridegroom all night through Never turns him to the bride.
The Tarot embodies symbolical presentations of universal ideas, behind which lie all the implicits of the human mind, and it is in this sense that they contain secret doctrine, which is the realization by the few of truths embedded in the consciousness of all.
I have known men to hazard their fortunes, go long journeys halfway about the world, forget friendships, even lie, cheat, and steal, all for the gain of a book.
But Piglet is so small that he slips into a pocket, where it is very comfortable to feel him when you are not quite sure whether twice seven is twelve or twenty-two.
Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.
The science of pure mathematics, in its modern developments, may claim to be the most original creation of the human spirit.
The process of my transformation came to a head with my discovery of St. Francis of Assisi during a pilgrimage I went on with a scout troop from my school.
It is essential for me to become involved in another search, and 'search' is the proper word to use because it promises discovery along with the risk.

Steven Strogatz famous quotes

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