Quotations XX: How Old Was Erdös?

Photo by foundphotoslj.

Here are a few mathematical gems from my co-op class blackboard:

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.

— John Adams

When I was a child, the Earth was said to be two billion years old. Now scientists say it’s four and a half billion. So that makes me two and a half billion.

— Paul Erdös

Math class is not terribly different from shop class. Both are all about tools and toolboxes. Math class is no more about mathematics than wood shop is about craftsmanship and design.

— Tony Lucchese

An expert problem solver must be endowed with two incompatible qualities: a restless imagination and a patient pertinacity.

— Howard Eves
In Mathematical Circles

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Have more fun on Let’s Play Math! blog:

• Quotations XIX: How Do We Learn Math?
• Quotations XVI: Back to the Blackboard
• In Between Sneezes…
• That’s Mathematics
• A Very Short History of Mathematics