Theorems Quotes

• Any good theorem should have several proofs, the more the better.

  Michael Atiyah

  Should Have, Proof, Should

  "Interview with Michael Atiyah and Isadore Singer". Interview with Martin Raussen, Christian Skau, www.researchgate.net. February 2005.

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• A mathematician is a person who can find analogies between theorems; a better mathematician is one who can see analogies between proofs and the best mathematician can notice analogies between theories.

  Stefan Banach

  Analogies, Proof, Theory

  "Banach Spaces and Their Applications in Analysis: Proceedings of the International Conference at Miami University, May 22-27, 2006, in Honor of Nigel Kalton's 60th Birthday" by Beata Randrianantoanina, Narcisse Randrianantoanina, Walter de Gruyter, (p. 5), 2007.

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• We often hear that mathematics consists mainly of "proving theorems." Is a writer's job mainly that of "writing sentences?"

  Gian-Carlo Rota

  Jobs, Writing, Math

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• There are three signs of senility. The first sign is that a man forgets his theorems. The second sign is that he forgets to zip up. The third sign is that he forgets to zip down.

  Paul Erdos

  Men, Three, Firsts

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• A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems.

  Paul Erdos

  Witty, Humorous, Coffee

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• If only I had the Theorems! Then I should find the proofs easily enough.

  Bernhard Riemann

  Easy, Enough, Mathematics

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• Economists often like startling theorems, results which seem to run counter to conventional wisdom.

  Joseph Stiglitz

  Running, Wisdom, Results

  Autobiographical Essay for the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, www.nobelprize.org. 2001.

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• Young men should prove theorems, old men should write books.

  G. H. Hardy

  Book, Writing, Math

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• If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?

  Albert Einstein

  Love, Inspirational, Funny

  "Personal Quotes/ Biography". www.imdb.com.

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• The principle is so perfectly general that no particular application of it is possible.

  George Polya

  Knowledge, Math, Principles

  George Pólya (1948). “How to solve it: a new aspect of mathematical method”

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• Mathematics is not a deductive science - that's a cliché... What you do is trial and error, experimentation, guesswork.

  Paul Halmos

  Math, Errors, Trial And Error

  "I Want to be a Mathematician: An Automathography". Book by Paul Halmos, 1985.

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• One geometry cannot be more true than another; it can only be more convenient.

  Henri Poincare

  Mathematics, Geometry, Convenient

  Henri Poincare (2012). “The Value of Science: Essential Writings of Henri Poincare”, p.85, Modern Library

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• God has the Big Book, the beautiful proofs of mathematical theorems are listed here.

  Paul Erdos

  Beautiful, Book, Math

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• Combinatorial analysis, in the trivial sense of manipulating binomial and multinomial coefficients, and formally expanding powers of infinite series by applications ad libitum and ad nauseamque of the multinomial theorem, represented the best that academic mathematics could do in the Germany of the late 18th century.

  Richard Askey

  Science, Germany, Analysis

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• I took a break from acting for four years to get a degree in mathematics at UCLA, and during that time I had the rare opportunity to actually do research as an undergraduate. And myself and two other people co-authored a new theorem: Percolation and Gibbs States Multiplicity for Ferromagnetic Ashkin-Teller Models on Two Dimensions, or Z2.

  Danica McKellar

  Opportunity, Ucla, Years

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• ...contemporary physicists come in two varieties. Type 1 physicists are bothered by EPR and Bell's Theorem. Type 2 (the majority) are not, but one has to distinguish two subvarieties. Type 2a physicists explain why they are not bothered. Their explanations tend either to miss the point entirely (like Born's to Einstein) or to contain physical assertions that can be shown to be false. Type 2b are not bothered and refuse to explain why.

  David Mermin

  Science, Two, Missing

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• The primes are the raw material out of which we have to build arithmetic, and Euclid's theorem assures us that we have plenty of material for the task.

  G. H. Hardy

  Science, Tasks, Raw Materials

  G. H. Hardy (2012). “A Mathematician's Apology”, p.99, Cambridge University Press

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• This skipping is another important point. It should be done whenever a proof seems too hard or whenever a theorem or a whole paragraph does not appeal to the reader. In most cases he will be able to go on and later he may return to the parts which he skipped.

  Emil Artin

  Science, Important, Doe

  Emil Artin (2016). “Geometric Algebra”, p.7, Courier Dover Publications

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• Without computers we will be stuck only proving theorems that have short proofs.

  Kenneth Appel

  Science, Computer, Mathematics

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• Mystery is an inescapable ingredient of mathematics. Mathematics is full of unanswered questions, which far outnumber known theorems and results. It's the nature of mathematics to pose more problems than it can solve. Indeed, mathematics itself may be built on small islands of truth comprising the pieces of mathematics that can be validated by relatively short proofs. All else is speculation.

  Ivars Peterson

  Islands, Ontology, May

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• It is not so much whether a theorem is useful that matters, but how elegant it is.

  Stanislaw Ulam

  Matter, Elegant

  "Adventures of a Mathematician". Book by Stanislaw Ulam, 3rd edition. Chapter 15: "Random Reflections on Mathematics and Science", p. 274, 1991.

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• I have found a very great number of exceedingly beautiful theorems.

  Pierre de Fermat

  Beautiful, Numbers, Found

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• Mathematics is not arithmetic. Though mathematics may have arisen from the practices of counting and measuring it really deals with logical reasoning in which theorems-general and specific statements-can be deduced from the starting assumptions. It is, perhaps, the purest and most rigorous of intellectual activities, and is often thought of as queen of the sciences.

  Christopher Zeeman

  Queens, Science, Logical Reasoning

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• Now, one of my beliefs, one of my theorems that I have evolved over the years is that when it comes to Democrats and the media they will always tell us who they fear. And all we have to do to learn that is look at who they're trying to damage and/or destroy.

  Rush Limbaugh

  Media, Years, Trying

  Source: www.rushlimbaugh.com

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• Papers should include more side remarks, open questions, and such. Very often, these are more interesting than the theorems actually proved. Alas, most people are afraid to admit that they don't know the answer to some question, and as a consequence they refrain from mentioning the question, even if it is a very natural one. What a pity! As for myself, I enjoy saying 'I do not know'.

  Jean-Pierre Serre

  Interesting, People, Answers

  Jean-Pierre Serre (2000). “Oeuvres, Collected Papers: 1985-1998”, Springer Verlag

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