“Mathematicians are like Frenchmen; if you talk to them, they translate it into their own language, and then it is immediately something quite different.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Mathematicians are like Frenchmen; if you talk to them, they translate it into their own language, and then it is immediately something quite different.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Aliens invade the earth and threaten to obliterate it in a year’s time unless human beings can find the Ramsey number for red five and blue five. We could marshal the world’s best minds and fastest computers, and within a year we could probably calculate the value. If the aliens demanded the Ramsey number for red six and blue six, however, we would have no choice but to launch a preemptive attack.
Quote of the Week beings you a thoughtful or humorous maths quote every week. -ish.
The good Christian should beware of mathematicians [...] The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell.
St Augustine of Hippo
