pls share a memorable quote (or joke) related to math...


here's one from
[A Mathematician’s Apology] by G. H. Hardy



..................... I will state and prove two of the famous theorems of Greek mathematics.
They are ‘simple’ theorems, simple both in idea and in execution,
but there is no doubt at all about their being theorems of the
highest class.

Each is as fresh and significant as when it has discovered—two thousand years have not written a wrinkle on either of them.

Finally, both the statements and the proofs can be
mastered in an hour by any intelligent reader, however slender his
mathematical equipment.


1. The first is Euclid’s [3] proof of the existence of an infinity of
prime numbers.
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .


2. My second example is Pythagoras’s [6] proof of the ‘irration-
ality’ of Sqrt(2) . A ‘rational number’ is fraction b / a , where a and b are integers: we may suppose that a and b have no common factor,
since if they had we could remove it. To say that
' Sqrt(2) is irrational’ is merely another way of saying that ............

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On 7/16/2022 1:44 PM, henh...@gmail.com wrote:

pls share a memorable quote (or joke) related to math...

Yet what are all such gaieties to me,
whose thoughts are full of indices and surds?
x^2 + 7x + 53
= 11/3

-- Lewis Carroll

--
esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid
Look on my code, ye Hackers, and guffaw!

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On 16/07/2022 9:10 pm, Eric Sosman wrote:

On 7/16/2022 1:44 PM, henh...@gmail.com wrote:

pls share a memorable quote (or joke) related to math...

Yet what are all such gaieties to me,
whose thoughts are full of indices and surds?
x^2 + 7x + 53
= 11/3

-- Lewis Carroll

Start with nothing and take half of it away,
Then take half, take half, take half,
Take half, take half, take half, take half;

Now three by twenty-nine
And then by a hundred and three
And by one over ten
And again and again
And again and again
All together multiply
And add two threes,
And now at last
multiply by eye,

Whether you add or take is moot;
You will have a complex root.

--
Richard Heathfield
Email: rjh at cpax dot org dot uk
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999
Sig line 4 vacant - apply within

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On 17/07/2022 1:18 am, Eric Sosman wrote:

On 7/16/2022 1:44 PM, henh...@gmail.com wrote:

pls share a memorable quote (or joke) related to math...

"It's not obvious." -- John Horton Conway

(Or perhaps "It isn't obvious."  My memory is imperfect, and I've
been unable to locate the source -- it must have been among Martin
Gardner's writings; perhaps someone else will come up with the
accurate quote and the correct context.  Anyhow, the imperfectly-
recalled scenario went somewhat like this: Gardner was speaking to
Conway at a party or something, and told him of a construction or
puzzle someone else had come up with -- something to do with a
generalization of N-ominoes, possibly.  Gardner mentioned that the originator was still struggling with a question concerning the three-dimensional analogs of his construction -- maybe "Can they
tile three-space?" -- and Conway immediately said "Well, it's
obvious that..." and broke off.  He maintained silence for some
macroscopic time span during which Gardner wondered what magical
realms of higher thought Conway might be exploring, then finally
remarked "It's not obvious" and walked away.)

(If you're the first to run down the original story, I will donate
one thousand electrons to the charity of your choosing.)

Try Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games: The Entire Collection of
His "Scientific American" Columns. Just saying it's worth a look,
not that it's definitely in there.

It's a story I have always treasured, but evidently not enough.


--
Richard Heathfield
Email: rjh at cpax dot org dot uk
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999
Sig line 4 vacant - apply within

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 7/16/2022 1:44 PM, henh...@gmail.com wrote:

pls share a memorable quote (or joke) related to math...

"It's not obvious." -- John Horton Conway

(Or perhaps "It isn't obvious." My memory is imperfect, and I've
been unable to locate the source -- it must have been among Martin
Gardner's writings; perhaps someone else will come up with the
accurate quote and the correct context. Anyhow, the imperfectly-
recalled scenario went somewhat like this: Gardner was speaking to
Conway at a party or something, and told him of a construction or
puzzle someone else had come up with -- something to do with a
generalization of N-ominoes, possibly. Gardner mentioned that the
originator was still struggling with a question concerning the three-dimensional analogs of his construction -- maybe "Can they
tile three-space?" -- and Conway immediately said "Well, it's
obvious that..." and broke off. He maintained silence for some
macroscopic time span during which Gardner wondered what magical
realms of higher thought Conway might be exploring, then finally
remarked "It's not obvious" and walked away.)

(If you're the first to run down the original story, I will donate
one thousand electrons to the charity of your choosing.)

--
esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid
Look on my code, ye Hackers, and guffaw!

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Eric Sosman <esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid> wrote:

On 7/16/2022 1:44 PM, henh...@gmail.com wrote:

pls share a memorable quote (or joke) related to math...

Yet what are all such gaieties to me,
whose thoughts are full of indices and surds?
x^2 + 7x + 53
= 11/3

-- Lewis Carroll

(12+144+20+3sqrt(4))/7 +5(11)=9^2

A dozen, a gross, plus a score
Plus three times the square root of four
Divided by seven
Plus five times eleven
Is nine squared (and not a bit more).

G

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On 7/17/2022 8:39 AM, G wrote:

(12+144+20+3sqrt(4))/7 +5(11)=9^2

Appending "+0" might make a small improvement ...

A dozen, a gross, plus a score
Plus three times the square root of four
Divided by seven
Plus five times eleven
Is nine squared (and not a bit more).

... by justifying the parenthesized phrase.

--
esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid
Look on my code, ye Hackers, and guffaw!

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In article <jjie77Fk7n8U1@mid.individual.net>, G <g@nowhere.invalid> wrote:

(12+144+20+3sqrt(4))/7 +5(11)=9^2

A dozen, a gross, plus a score
Plus three times the square root of four
Divided by seven
Plus five times eleven
Is nine squared (and not a bit more).

For "not a bit more" you should add "+0" to the equation.

-- Richard

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On 7/16/2022 10:44 AM, henh...@gmail.com wrote:

pls share a memorable quote (or joke) related to math...

"[xkcd] means calling the Ackermann function with Graham's number as the
arguments just to horrify mathematicians."

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In article <tb1qnt$9sd$1@gioia.aioe.org>,
Edward Murphy <emurphy42@zoho.com> wrote:

"[xkcd] means calling the Ackermann function with Graham's number as
the arguments just to horrify mathematicians."

Somewhere, far in the distance, Rayo's number can be heard giggling to itself.

Gareth

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On Saturday, July 16, 2022 at 6:05:01 PM UTC-7, Richard Heathfield wrote:

On 17/07/2022 1:18 am, Eric Sosman wrote:

On 7/16/2022 1:44 PM, henh...@gmail.com wrote:

pls share a memorable quote (or joke) related to math...

"It's not obvious." -- John Horton Conway

(Or perhaps "It isn't obvious." My memory is imperfect, and I've
been unable to locate the source -- it must have been among Martin Gardner's writings; perhaps someone else will come up with the
accurate quote and the correct context. Anyhow, the imperfectly-
recalled scenario went somewhat like this: Gardner was speaking to
Conway at a party or something, and told him of a construction or
puzzle someone else had come up with -- something to do with a generalization of N-ominoes, possibly. Gardner mentioned that the originator was still struggling with a question concerning the three-dimensional analogs of his construction -- maybe "Can they
tile three-space?" -- and Conway immediately said "Well, it's
obvious that..." and broke off. He maintained silence for some
macroscopic time span during which Gardner wondered what magical
realms of higher thought Conway might be exploring, then finally
remarked "It's not obvious" and walked away.)

(If you're the first to run down the original story, I will donate
one thousand electrons to the charity of your choosing.)

Try Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games: The Entire Collection of
His "Scientific American" Columns. Just saying it's worth a look,
not that it's definitely in there.

It's a story I have always treasured, but evidently not enough.
--

thanks! for the great info !

https://www.alaricstephen.com/main-featured/2017/5/20/polycube-snakes

Martin Gardner's
[The Colossal Book of Mathematics: Classic Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Problems ]
Page 203 ---

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On 7/20/2022 10:55 AM, henh...@gmail.com wrote:

On Saturday, July 16, 2022 at 6:05:01 PM UTC-7, Richard Heathfield wrote:

On 17/07/2022 1:18 am, Eric Sosman wrote:

On 7/16/2022 1:44 PM, henh...@gmail.com wrote:

pls share a memorable quote (or joke) related to math...

"It's not obvious." -- John Horton Conway

(Or perhaps "It isn't obvious." My memory is imperfect, and I've
been unable to locate the source -- it must have been among Martin
Gardner's writings; perhaps someone else will come up with the
accurate quote and the correct context. Anyhow, the imperfectly-
recalled scenario went somewhat like this: Gardner was speaking to
Conway at a party or something, and told him of a construction or
puzzle someone else had come up with -- something to do with a
generalization of N-ominoes, possibly. Gardner mentioned that the
originator was still struggling with a question concerning the
three-dimensional analogs of his construction -- maybe "Can they
tile three-space?" -- and Conway immediately said "Well, it's
obvious that..." and broke off. He maintained silence for some
macroscopic time span during which Gardner wondered what magical
realms of higher thought Conway might be exploring, then finally
remarked "It's not obvious" and walked away.)

(If you're the first to run down the original story, I will donate
one thousand electrons to the charity of your choosing.)

Try Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games: The Entire Collection of
His "Scientific American" Columns. Just saying it's worth a look,
not that it's definitely in there.

It's a story I have always treasured, but evidently not enough.
--

thanks! for the great info !

https://www.alaricstephen.com/main-featured/2017/5/20/polycube-snakes

Martin Gardner's
[The Colossal Book of Mathematics: Classic Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Problems ]
Page 203 ---

Splendid! I've shipped your thousand-electron reward via DHL;
here's the tracking link:

https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/2016931/costa-rica.jpg

--
esosman@comcast-dot-net.invalid
Look on my code, ye Hackers, and guffaw!

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