A COLLECTION OF GOOD WORDS
数学家
Mathematician
It may be true, that men, who are mere mathematicians, have certain specific shortcomings, but that is not the fault of mathematics, for it is equally true of every other exclusive occupation.
诚然,仅仅是数学家的人也有某些特定的缺点,但这并不是数学的过错,因为其他任何排他性的职业也有同样的缺点。
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.
数学家是能在定理之间找到类比的人;一个更好的数学家能看到证明之间的类比,而最好的数学家能注意到理论之间的类比。
The traditional mathematician recognizes and appreciates mathematical elegance when he sees it. I propose to go one step further, and to consider elegance an essential ingredient of mathematics: if it is clumsy, it is not mathematics.
传统的数学家看到数学的优雅时,会承认并欣赏它。我建议更进一步,认为优雅是数学的一个基本要素:如果它笨拙,它就不是数学。
If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get very far in our understanding of the physical world. One might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability.
如果科学推理局限于算术的逻辑过程,我们对物理世界的理解就不会走得太远。人们不妨尝试完全利用概率数学来把握扑克游戏。
Guided only by their feeling for symmetry, simplicity, and generality, and an indefinable sense of the fitness of things, creative mathematicians now, as in the past, are inspired by the art of mathematics rather than by any prospect of ultimate usefulness.
现在的创造性数学家和过去一样,只受他们对对称性、简明性和普遍性的感觉以及对事物适应性的一种无法定义的感觉的指导,他们受到数学艺术的启发,而不是受到任何最终有用的前景的启发。
KEEP EXPLORING
沿着这个主题,再读几句。
Proof is an idol before whom the pure mathematician tortures himself.
证明是一个偶像,纯数学家在它面前折磨自己。
Mathematicians are like managers - they want improvement without change.
数学家就像经理一样,他们需要的是无需改变的改进。
One can imagine that the ultimate mathematician is one who can see analogies between analogies.
可以想象,最终的数学家是一个能在类比之间看到类比的人。
The mathematics is not there till we put it there.
数学是不存在的,除非我们把它放在那里。
A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems.
数学家是把咖啡变成定理的工具。
I like to move among painters, mathematicians, psychologists, people who can tell me something.
我喜欢在画家、数学家、心理学家中间走动,他们能告诉我一些事情。