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Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Collection of beauty in mathematics quotes

This post is a collection of beauty in mathematics quotes. There are 4 quotes listed below alphabetically by last name.

 

Aristotle (384-322 BC, philosopher):

"The chief forms of beauty are order and symmetry and definiteness, which the mathematical sciences demonstrate in a special degree." (Metaphysics)

 

Martin Gardner (1914-2010, mathematician):

"There is not much difference between the delight a novice experiences in cracking a clever brain teaser and the delight a mathematician experiences in mastering a more advanced problem. Both look on beauty bare - that clear, sharply defined, mysterious entrancing order that underlies all structure." (The Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles & Diversions, 1959)

 

G. H. Hardy (1877-1947, mathematician):

"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." (A Mathematician's Apology, 1941)

 

Sylvia Serfaty (1975 - now, mathematician):

"It's really beautiful to observe, as you progress in your mathematical maturity, how everything is somehow connected." (The Beauty of Mathematics: It Can Never Lie to You, 2017)