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Fermat's Enigma QUOTES

Fermat's Enigma QUOTES

1 " God exists since mathematics is consistent, and the Devil exists since we cannot prove it. "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

2 " Pascal was even convinced that he could use his theories to justify a belief in God. He stated that ‘the excitement that a gambler feels when making a bet is equal to the amount he might win multiplied by the probability of winning it’. He then argued that the possible prize of eternal happiness has an infinite value and that the probability of entering heaven by leading a virtuous life, no matter how small, is certainly finite. Therefore, according to Pascal’s definition, religion was a game of infinite excitement and one worth playing, because multiplying an infinite prize by a finite probability results in infinity. "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

3 " The nineteenth-century mathematician Leopold Kronecker said, “God made the integers; all the rest is the work of man. "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

4 " Maths is one of the purest forms of thought, and to outsiders mathematicians may seem almost other-worldly. "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

5 " Archimedes will be remembered when Aeschylus is forgotten, because languages die and mathematical ideas do not. ‘Immortality’ may be a silly word, but probably a mathematician has the best chance of whatever it may mean. G.H. Hardy 23 "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

6 " Although this may seem a paradox, all exact science is dominated by the idea of approximation. "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

7 " The Last Theorem is at the heart of an intriguing saga of courage, skulduggery, cunning, and tragedy, involving all the greatest heroes of mathematics. "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

8 " Pascal was even convinced that he could use his theories to justify a belief in God. He stated that ‘the excitement that a gambler feels when making a bet is equal to the amount he might win multiplied by the probability of winning it’. "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

9 " I am a liar! "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

10 " The mathematical life of a mathematician is short. Work rarely improves after the age of twenty-five or thirty. If little has been accomplished by then, little will ever be accomplished. "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

11 " I had this very rare privilege of being able to pursue in my life what had been my childhood dream. I know it's a rare privilege, but if you can tackle something in adult life that means that much to you, then it's more rewarding than anything imaginable." - Andrew Wiles "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

12 " Proof is what lies at the heart of maths, and is what marks it out from other sciences. Other sciences have hypotheses that are tested against experimental evidence until they fail, and are overtaken by new hypotheses. In maths, absolute proof is the goal, and once something is proved, it is proved forever, with no room for change. "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

13 " que π "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

14 " What is the least number of weights that can be used on a set of scales to weigh any whole number of kilograms from 1 to 40? "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

15 " Não existe utilidade prática em saber que π é irracional, mas, se podemos saber, então certamente seria intolerável não saber. "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

16 " An expert problem solver must be endowed with two incompatible qualities – a restless imagination and a patient pertinacity. Howard W. Eves "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

17 " It is the same with life. Some are influenced by the love of wealth while others are blindly led on by the mad fever for power and domination, but the finest type of man gives himself up to discovering the meaning and purpose of life itself. He seeks to uncover the secrets of nature. This is the man I call a philosopher for although no man is completely wise in all respects, he can love wisdom as the key to nature’s secrets. "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

18 " The mathematician’s patterns, like the painter’s or the poet’s, must be beautiful; the ideas, like the colours or the words, must fit together in a harmonious way. Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics. G.H. Hardy "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

19 " The construction of mathematical logic had become the arbiter of truth. This was the Pythagoreans' greatest contribution to civilisation - a way of achieving truth which is beyond the fallibility of human judgement. "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma

20 " prove that xn + yn = zn has no whole number solutions for n greater than 2. "

― Simon Singh , Fermat's Enigma