705 Quotes About Mathematics

Mathematics, as much as music or any other art, is one of the means by which we rise to a complete self-consciousness. The significance of mathematics resides precisely in the fact that it is an art; by informing us of the nature of our own minds it informs us of much that depends on our minds.

Eternal truths are ultimately invisible, and you won't find them in material things or natural phenomenon, or even in human emotions. Mathematics, however, can illuminate them, can give the expression – in fact, nothing can prevent it from doing so.

Mach also felt strongly the empirical origin of mathematics and held with Aristotle that geometric concepts are the product of idealization of physical experiences of space. In conformity necessarily to be given to the number i. In this respect he is in agreement with a number of present-day scientists, who feel that the square root of -1 simply "forms a part of various ingenious devices for handling otherwise intractable situations.

Materialistic and idealistic philosophies have both failed to appreciate the nature of mathematics, as accepted at the present time. Mathematics is neither a description of nature nor an explanation of its operation; it is not concerned with physical motion or with the metaphysical generation of quantities. It is merely the symbolic logic of possible relations, and as such is concerned with neither approximate nor absolute truth, but only with hypothetical truth.

As the sensations of motion and discreteness led to the abstract notions of the calculus, so may sensory experience continue thus to suggest problem for the mathematician, and so may she in turn be free to reduce these to the basic formal logical relationships involved. Thus only may be fully appreciated the twofold aspect of mathematics: as the language of a descriptive interpretation of the relationships discovered in natural phenomena, and as a syllogistic elaboration of arbitrary premise.

I was never told and I never caught on that a laboratory could teach you new facts and insights; I regarded it as just one of those chores (like irregular verbs in German and finger exercises for the piano) that the world assigns to apprentices before allowing them to become journeyman.

Eternal truths are ultimately invisible, and you won't find them in material things or natural phenomena, or even in human emotions. Mathematics, however, can illuminate them, can give them expression – in fact, nothing can prevent it from doing so.

Mathematics is the queen of the sciences.

Faraday was asked: "What is the use of this discovery?" He answered: "What is the use of a child - it grows to be a man.