Once you’ve mastered exponential notation, you can deal effortlessly with immense numbers, such as the rough number of microbes in a teaspoon of soil (10^8); of grains of sand on all the beaches of the Earth (maybe 10^20); of living things on Earth (10^29); of atoms in all the life on Earth (10^41); of atomic nuclei in the Sun (10^57); or of the number of elementary particles (electrons, protons, neutrons) in the entire Cosmos (10^80). This doesn’t mean you can picture a billion or a quintillion objects in your head -nobody can. But, with exponential notation, we can think about and calculate with such numbers. Pretty good for self-taught beings who started out with no possessions and who could number their fellows on their fingers and toes. Really big numbers are part and parcel of modern science; but I don’t want to leave the impression that they were invented in our time.
Carl Sagan, from Billions and Billions
1220
 
Personally, I would be delighted if there were a life after death, especially if it permitted me to continue to learn about this world and others, if it gave me a chance to discover how history turns out.
Carl Sagan,
857
 
The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.
Carl Sagan,
858
 
I am often amazed at how much more capability and enthusiasm for science there is among elementary school youngsters than among college students.
Carl Sagan,
856
 
It is of interest to note that while some dolphins are reported to have learned English -- up to fifty words used in correct context -- no human being has been reported to have learned dolphinese.
Carl Sagan,
854
 
A central lesson of science is that to understand complex issues (or even simple ones), we must try to free our minds of dogma and to guarantee the freedom to publish, to contradict, and to experiment. Arguments from authority are unacceptable.
Carl Sagan,
855
 
Profound thoughts arise only in debate, with a possibility of counterargument, only when there is a possibility of expressing not only correct ideas but also dubious ideas.
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakaharov, quoted in "The Mathematics Framework" of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.
343
 
Let"s face it: Serious self-scrutiny has not been one of our notable characteristics. We are far more aware of what we want to change in others than we are of how we need to change. Salvation for our educational ills is only secondarily "out there." Primarily it will have to come from within an educational community willing to say that we have met the enemy and it is us.
Seymour Sarason, from The School Administrator.
678
 
Salvation for our educational ills... will have to come from within an educational community willing to say we have met the enemy and it is us.
Seymour Sarrason, from "Explaining Away Your Failed Efforts," in The School Administrator.
345
 
In mathematics, if a pattern occurs, we can go on to ask, Why does it occur? What does it signify? And we can find answers to these questions. In fact, for every pattern that appears, a mathematician feels he ought to know why it appears.
W. W. Sawyer,
346
 
You get what you settle for.
Louise Sawyer, from the movie Thelma and Louise.
347
 
The present syllabus in our high schools corresponds almost exactly to what was known in 1640.
W.W. Sawyer, quoted in Out of the Mouths of Mathematicians, by Rosemary Schmalz.
459
 
The biologist can push it back to the original protist, and the chemist can push it back to the crystal, but none of them touch the real question of why or how the thing began at all. The astronomer goes back untold million of years and ends in gas and emptiness, and then the mathematician sweeps the whole cosmos into unreality and leaves one with mind as the only thing of which we have any immediate apprehension. Cogito ergo sum, ergo omnia esse videntur. All this bother, and we are no further than Descartes. Have you noticed that the astronomers and mathematicians are much the most cheerful people of the lot? I suppose that perpetually contemplating things on so vast a scale makes them feel either that it doesn't matter a hoot anyway, or that anything so large and elaborate must have some sense in it somewhere.
Dorothy L. Sayers,
1149
 
Mathematics is a linguistic activity; its ultimate area is preciseness of communication.
William L. Schaff,
348
 
Against stupidity the very Gods themselves contend in vain.
Friedrich von Schiller, from Joan of Arc
1048
 
One should not forget that our term calculus is derived from calcule, "pebble", a reference to counting with pebbles.
Annemarie Schimmel, from The Mystery of Numbers.
520
 
Teachers are like priests and whores. They have to fall in love in a hurry with anybody who comes their way. Afterward there is no time to cry. The world is an immense family. There are so many others to serve.
The Schoolboys of Barbiana, quoted in Teaching Is..., by Merrill Harmin and Tom Gregory.
349
 
The idea of the continuum seems simple to us. We have somehow lost sight of the difficulties it implies...We are told such a number as square root of 2 worried Pythagoras and his school almost to exhaustion. Being used to such queer numbers from early childhood, we must be careful not to form a low idea of the mathematical intuition of these ancient sages, their worry was highly credible.
Erwin Schrodinger,
351
 
If you cannot - in the long run - tell everyone what you have been doing, your doing has been worthless.
Erwin Schrodinger,
352
 
Every man's world picture is and always remains a construct of his mind and cannot be proved to have any other existence.
Erwin Schrodinger, from Mind and Matter.
350
 
To the question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hoping are optimistic.
Albert Schweitzer, from Words I Wish I Wrote by Robert Fulgham
941
 
And the people in the houses
All went to the University
And they got put in boxes
Little boxes all the same,
Little boxes all the same,
Little boxes all the same,
Little boxes all the same
And they all come out all the same.
Peter Seger, "Little Boxes” by Molvina Reynolds (1963)
1232
 
We encounter patterns all the time, every day: in the spoken and written word, in musical forms and video images, in ornamental design and natural geometry, in traffic patterns, and in objects we build. Our ability to recognize, interpret, and create patterns is the key to dealing with the world around us.
Margorie Senechal, from On the Shoulders of Giants, edited by Lynn Arthur Steen
1176
 
Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame
Blessed is the flame that burns in the secret fastness of the heart.
Blessed is the heart with strength to stop its beating for honor's sake.
Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame.
Hannah Senesh, from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
970
 
Adults are just outdated children.
Dr. Seuss,
353
 
Think! Think and wonder. Wonder and think. How much water can 55 elephants drink?
Dr. Seuss, from Oh, the Thinks You Can Think.
354
 
You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.
Dr. Seuss,
1044
 
And when I am forgotten, as I shall be,
And asleep in dull cold marble, where no mention
Of me must be heard of, say, I taught thee.
William Shakespeare, from Henry VIII.
598
 
You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.
George Bernard Shaw,
1020
 
If you hold yourself up to your children, hold yourself up as an object lesson and not as an example.
George Bernard Shaw, quoted in The Fourth, and By Far the Most Recent, 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said, by Robert Byrne.
356
 
I am not a teacher: only a fellow-traveller of whom you asked the way. I pointed ahead -- ahead of myself as well as you.
George Bernard Shaw,
592
 
I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space. Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
George Bernard Shaw,
355
 
Speaking of the deductive method, it is a sad reflection on the intellectual level of mathematical education that, unless he takes courses in logic, the mathematics student may get his degree without having heard about Godel or about his monumental discovery of the intrinsic limitations of the deductive method, a discovery widely regarded as one of the greatest intellectual accomplishments of the 20th century.
Abe Shenitzer, from "Teaching Mathematics," in Mathematics Tomorrow, edited by L.A. Steen.
357
 
One can invent mathematics without knowing much of its history. One can use mathematics without knowing much, if any, of its history. But one cannot have a mature appreciation of mathematics without a substantial knowledge of its history.
Abe Shenitzer, quoted in "Thinking the Unthinkable: The Story of Complex Numbers (with a Moral)," by Israel Kleiner, Mathematics Teacher, Oct. 1988.
358
 
The humble little school library ... was a ramp to everything in the world and beyond, everything that could be dreamed and imagined, everything that could be known, everything that could be hoped.
Lee Sherman,
1003
 
Giving students a lot of worksheets to fill out is indicative of low expectations. It suggests that you don"t think they"re capable of deep thinking about mathematics.
Midge Siegfried, quoted in "Positive numbers: math equity programs unlock the gate to algebra and beyond," by David Ruenzel, Teaching Tolerance, Spring 1998.
685
 
There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.
Beverly Sills, quoted in Wisdom for the New Millennium edited by Helen Exley.
1065
 
...music is sometimes the only benign avenue of communication between antagonists.
Paul Simon, New York Times, August, 1998
1181
 
[Mathematicians] feel free to to use any word we like for any concept, as long as we define the word clearly, but most people learn most words from context and from experience. No wonder, then, that mathematics is viewed as a foreign language by many students -- not only is the vocabulary unfamiliar, but even the process by which one learns the vocabulary is different!
Stephanie F. Singer, quoted in The Language of Mathematics.
794
 
Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
B. F. Skinner, quoted in Harper's quotes.
359
 
We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.
B. F. Skinner,
1004
 
Poor teaching leads to the inevitable idea that the subject (mathematics) is only adapted to peculiar minds, when it is the one universal science and the one whose four ground-rules are taught us almost in infancy and reappear in the motions to the universe.
H. J. S. Smith,
360
 
Calculus is the most powerful weapon of thought yet devised by the wit of man.
W. B. Smith, quoted in Single Variable Calculus, by James Stewart.
361
 
Geometry is nothing if it be not rigorous... The methods of Euclid are, by almost universal consent, unexceptional in point of rigor.
H.J.S. Smith, quoted in Mathematical Thoughts from Ancient to Modern Times by Morris Kline.
1038
 
Fractals are not something special, anymore than the parabola is something special. The parabola is a visual representation of the EVALUATION of the simplest non linear equation Y=X*X+C, and the Mandelbrot Set is a visual representation of the ITERATION (repeated evaluation) of the same SIMPLEST POSSIBLE non linear equation. It is also unlikely that iteration is any less important that simple evaluation, especially for the systems that are a function of themselves a moment before plus their environment, and so it is unlikely that the Mandelbrot Set is any less important than the parabola. And to claim that the parabola is unimportant would be unwise at this time.
H.W. Smith, ART MATRIX
475
 
The physical universe is basically an iterated system, so actually it is surprising we have made the progress we have, using only simple evaluation. The equations have been around forever. The physical universe has been USING them almost forever. The equations have as part of their very nature things like fixed points, period cycles, chaotic cycles, basins of attraction, etc., so you can be sure all these things are manifested in the physical universe INCLUDING FRACTALNESS.
To say therefore that fractals have nothing to do with anything and have not explained or proven useful in our understanding of the universe is more a statement about the people who are working with fractals rather than a statement about the pertinence of fractals to the world at large. Fractals are so pertinent to the universe no one can see it yet. Long time ago, they thought math did not pertain either. The "why" was God.
The "why" might still be God, but if it is, then clearly God is a mathematician of significant merit, and no doubt a fractal enthusiast.
H.W. Smith, ART MATRIX
476
 
They still like to pretend that the traditional culture is the whole of "culture", as though the natural order didn"t exist. As though the exploration of the natural order was of no interest either in its own value or its consequence. As thought the scientific edifice of the physical world was not, in its intellectual depth, complexity and articulation, the most beautiful and wonderful collective work of the mind of man. Yet most non-scientists have no conception of that edifice at all.
C.P. Snow, from The Two Cultures.
503
 
The notion of a 'group' viewed only 30 years ago as the epitome of sophistication, is today the one mathematical concepts most widely used in physics, chemistry, biochemistry and mathematics itself.
Alexey Sosinsky, quoted in Contemporary Abstract Algebra, by J. Gallian.
362
 
To me education is leading out of what is already there in the pupil's soul. To Miss Machay it is a putting in of something that is not there, and that is not what I call education, I call it intrusion.
Muriel Spark, quoted in The Beacon Book of Quotations by Women, edited by Rosalie Maggio.
363
 
Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.
Benedict Spinoza, from the Oxford Book of Quotations, 3rd edition
440
 
Use everything in your life to create your art.
Konstantin S. A. Stanislavski, quoted in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells.
781
 
Mathematics, in the common lay view, is a static discipline based on formulas...But outside the public view, mathematics continues to grow at a rapid rate...the guid to this growth is not calculation and formulas, but an open ended search for pattern.
Lynn A. Steen, from On the Shoulders of Giants, edited by Lynn A. Steen.
365
 
The lock-step approach of algebra, geometry, and then more algebra (but rarely any statistics) is still dominant in U. S. schools, but hardly anywhere else. This fragmented approach yields effective mathematics education not for the many but for the few - primarily those who are independently motivated and who will learn under any conditions.
Lynn A. Steen, from "Does Everybody Need to Study Algebra?"
364
 
What humans do with the language of mathematics is to describe patterns... To grow mathematically children must be exposed to a rich variety of patterns appropriate to their own lives through which they can see variety, regularity, and interconnections.
Lynn Arthur Steen, From On the Shoulder of Giants.
761
 
Chaos is the law of nature. Order is the dream of man. Chaos is the law of nature. Order is the dream of man.
Wallace Stegner,
894
 
There ain't no answer.
There ain't going to be any answer.
There never has been an answer.
That's the answer.
Gertrude Stein, from Words I Wish I Wrote by Robert Fulgham
951
 
This I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual.
John Steinbeck,
600
 
If there is a chronic infirmity by which every teacher ought to be afflicted, it is, indeed, hope.
George Steiner,
606
 
The world has no room for cowards. We must all be ready somehow to toil, to suffer, to die. And yours is not the less noble because no drum beats before you when you do out into your daily battlefields, and no crowds shout about your coming when you return from your daily victory or defeat.
Robert Louis Stevenson, quoted in Wisdom for the New Millennium edited by Helen Exley.
1078
 
The world has no room for cowards. We must all be ready somehow to toil, to suffer, to die. And yours is not the less noble because no drum beats before you when you do out into your daily battlefields, and no crowds shout about your coming when you return from your daily victory or defeat.
Robert Louis Stevenson, quoted in Wisdom for the New Millennium edited by Helen Exley.
1081
 
To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end in life.
Robert Louis Stevenson,
1180
 
Two centuries ago Carl Friedrich Gauss, one of the greatest mathematicians and a founder of number theory, described his brainchild as "the queen of mathematics." Queens are regal, but they are also largely decorative, and this nuance was not lost on Gauss.
Ian Stewart, from "Proof of Purchase on the Internet," in Scientific American, February, 1996.
366
 
Mathematicians are beginning to view order and chaos as two distinct manifestations of an underlying determinism. And neither state exists in isolation. The typical system can exist in a variety of states, some ordered, some chaotic. Instead of two opposed polarities, there is a continuous spectrum. As harmony and discord combine in musical beauty, so order and chaos combine in mathematical [and physical] beauty.
Ian Stewart, from Does God Play Dice? The Mathematics of Chaos.
461
 
Chaos is lawless behavior governed entirely by law.
Ian Stewart, from Does God Play Dice? The Mathematics of Chaos.
462
 
...a major triumph of mathematical imagination: the use of visual imagery to condense a large quantity of information into a single comprehensible picture... Mathematicians are just beginning to understand these basic building blocks of change and to analyze how they combine. The methodology involved has a very different spirit from traditional modeling with differential equations: it is more like chemistry than calculus, requiring careful counterpoint between analysis and synthesis.
Ian Stewart, quoted in On the Shoulders of Giants, edited by Lynn A. Steen.
464
 
One of the biggest problems of mathematics is to explain to everyone else what it is all about. The technical trappings of the subject, its symbolism and formality, its baffling terminology, its apparent delight in lengthy calculations: these tend to obscure its real nature. A musician would be horrified if his art were to be summed up as "a lot of tadpoles drawn on a row of lines"; but that"s all that the untrained eye can see in a page of sheet music... In the same way, the symbolism of mathematics is merely its coded form, not its substance.
Ian Stewart, from From Here to Infinity.
576
 
During the past fifty years, more mathematics has been created than in all previous ages put together.
Ian Stewart, from From Here to Infinity.
583
 
Science cannot stop while ethics catches up - and nobody should expect scientists to do all the thinking for the country.
Elvin Stockman, quoted in Harper's Quotes.
367
 
What one learns about mathematics in primary school corresponds to the alphabet. What one learns in high school corresponds to sentences in a primer. What one learns in elementary college courses corresponds to simple little stories. Scholars alone are aware of the mathematics that corresponds to literature.
Carl Stoermer, quoted in Mathematics: People, Problems and Results, by D.M. Campbell and J.C. Higgins.
368
 
Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body.
Elizabeth Stone,
1011
 
Children require guidance and sympathy far more than instruction.
Anne Sullivan, quoted in "A Special Teacher."
369
 
Big fleas have little gleas upon their backs to bite them,
and little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
J. Swift, quoted in Fractals, Chaos, Power Laws: Minutes from an Infinite Paradise, by Manfred Schroder.
568
 
May not Music be described as the Mathematics of sense, Mathematic as Music of the Reason? The musician feels Mathematics, the mathematician thinks Music - Music the dream, Mathematics the working life.
Joseph J. Sylvester,
370
 
It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.
Publilius Syrus,
892
 
Discovery consist in looking at the same thing as everybody else and seeing something different.
A. Szent-Gyorgyi, quoted in Discovering Geometry, by M. Serra.
147
 
A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind.
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi,
896
 

76 quotes found and displayed.