list-of-quotes-and-phrases

Math quotes and phrases

Quotes about math

http://math.sfsu.edu/beck/quotes.html

"To many, mathematics is a collection of theorems. For me, mathematics is a collection of examples; a theorem is a statement about a collection of examples and the purpose of proving theorems is to classify and explain the examples." -- John H. Conway

"If a 'religion' is defined to be a system of ideas that contains unprovable statements, then Gödel taught us that mathematics is not only a religion, it is the only religion that can prove itself to be one." -- John Barrow

"Quapropter bono christiano, sive mathematici, sive quilibet impie divinantium, maxime dicentes vera, cavendi sunt, ne consortio daemoniorum animam deceptam, pacto quodam societatis irretiant." -- Augustinus in "De genesis ad literam"

Ignoramus et ignorabimus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignoramus_et_ignorabimus

Ignoramus et ignorabimus (sometimes just ignorabimus) is a phrase in Latin meaning "we do not know and we will never know". It represents the idea that (scientific) knowledge is limited. It was popularized by Emil du Bois-Reymond, a German physiologist, that used it in his 1872 address on "The Limits of Science".

The verb ignoro, ignorare, ignoravi, ignoratus is a first conjunction verb (here) meaning to not know. "Ignoramus" is the first person plural of the present indicative active, meaning "we do not know"; "ignorabimus" is the first person plural future active indicative, meaning "we will not know"; "et" is a conjunction whose ligature went through many iterations until eventually settling as the & symbol.

As Bois-Reymond saw it, science was bounded by two limits: the ultimate nature of matter and the enigma of consciousness. Eight years later, in a speech before the Prussian Academy of Sciences, he expanded his list of conundrums to seven "world riddles" of science. Three of these he declared to be "transcendent" or permanently unknowable: the ultimate nature of matter and energy, the origin of motion, and the origin of simple sensations.

Wir müssen wissen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hilbert

Wir müssen wissen, wir werden wissen is a phrase in German David Hilbert used as oposing view to Bois-Reymond remark.

In 1900, during an address to the International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris, Hilbert suggested that answers to problems of mathematics are possible with human effort. He declared, "in mathematics there is no ignorabimus", and he worked with other formalists to establish foundations for mathematics during the early 20th century. In 1930, Hilbert elaborated his opinion in a celebrated address to the Society of German Scientists and Physicians, in Königsberg: "We must not believe those, who today, with philosophical bearing and deliberative tone, prophesy the fall of culture and accept the ignorabimus. For us there is no ignorabimus, and in my opinion none whatever in natural science. In opposition to the foolish ignorabimus our slogan shall be Wir müssen wissen, wir werden wissen.

Calculemus

Quando orientur controversiae, non magis disputatione opus erit inter duos philosophos, quam inter duos computistas. Sufficiet enim calamos in manus sumere sedereque ad abacos, et sibi mutuo (accito si placet amico) dicere: "calculemus!".

-- Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646 - 1716)