"The thing I want you especially to understand is this feeling of divine revelation. I feel that this structure was "out there" all along I just couldn't see it. And now I can! This is really what keep..."
- Paul Lockhart
"No mathematician in the world would bother making these senseless distinctions: 2 1/2 is a "mixed number " while 5/2 is an "improper fraction." They're EQUAL for crying out loud. They are the exact sa..."
"Mental acuity of any kind comes from solving problems yourself, not from being told how to solve them."
"A good problem is something you don't know how to solve. That's what makes it a good puzzle and a good opportunity."
"Why don't we want our children to learn to do mathematics? Is it that we don't trust them, that we think it's too hard? We seem to feel that they are capable of making arguments and coming to their ow..."
"[Math] curriculum is obsessed with jargon and nomenclature seemingly for no other purpose than to provide teachers with something to test the students on."
"SIMPLICIO: ... You have to [learn to] walk before you can run.SALVIATI: No, you have to have something you want to run toward."
"Doing mathematics should always mean finding patterns and crafting beautiful and meaningful explanations."
"If there is anything like a unifying aesthetic principle in mathematics, it is this: simple is beautiful. Mathematicians enjoy thinking about the simplest possible things, and the simplest possible th..."
"... That little narrative is an example of the mathematician’s art: asking simple and elegant questions about our imaginary creations, and crafting satisfying and beautiful explanations. There is real..."