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Quotations XXIII: The Poetry of Logical Ideas
[Photo by pshutterbug.]
It’s been ages since I posted any blackboard quotes, so here are a few gems from last semester. [Hat tip: I found most of the quotes in this list at The Quote Garden’s Quotations about Math page.]
Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.
Continue reading Quotations XXIII: The Poetry of Logical Ideas
Quotations XXII: Six Months in the Dark
[Photo by frozenchipmunk.]
School is in session, which means I am once again searching out pithy, inspirational quotations for my chalkboard. Some recent tidbits…
The more I work and practice, the luckier I seem to get.
— Gary Player
Quoted in Precalculus Mathematics in a Nutshell
Quotes XXI: How Is Logic Like Whiskey?
Photo by Brian – Progressive Spin.
Logic is the science of making valid deductions and proofs — and it is also a fruitful topic for blackboard quotes. Here are a few of my favorites:
You can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it.
Quotations XX: How Old Was Erdös?
Photo by foundphotoslj.
Here are a few mathematical gems from my co-op class blackboard:
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.
When I was a child, the Earth was said to be two billion years old. Now scientists say it’s four and a half billion. So that makes me two and a half billion.
Quotations XIX: How Do We Learn Math?
He doesn’t learn algebra
in the algebra course;
he learns it in calculus.
I have been catching up on my Bloglines reading [procrastinating blogger at work — I should be going over the MathCounts lesson for Friday’s homeschool co-op class], and found the following quotation at Mathematics under the Microscope [old blog posts are no longer archived].
Quotations XVIII: The Art of Asking Questions
Priorities, motivation, and a little bit of math from my blackboard…
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
In mathematics, the art of asking questions is more valuable than solving problems.
Continue reading Quotations XVIII: The Art of Asking Questions
Quotations XVII: If People Don’t Believe That Mathematics Is Simple…
Quotes from my blackboard during October:
Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first, and the lesson afterward.
What, after all, is mathematics but the poetry of the mind, and what is poetry but the mathematics of the heart?
Continue reading Quotations XVII: If People Don’t Believe That Mathematics Is Simple…
Quotations XVI: Back to the Blackboard
Classes are back in session at our homeschool co-op, so I am again collecting short quotes for the blackboard. Here are the ones I used in September:
Any fool can know. The point is to understand.
Life without geometry is pointless.
You don’t understand anything until you learn it more than one way.
Quotations XV: More Joy of Mathematics
Mathematics is a vast adventure; its history reflects some of the noblest thoughts of countless generations.
Mathematics is a world created by the mind of men, and mathematicians are people who devote their lives to what seems to me a wonderful kind of play!
