Stories, Sayings and Jokes
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Mathematical folklore may also refer to unusual (and possibly apochryphal) stories or jokes involving mathematicians or mathematics that are told verbally in mathematics departments. Compilations include tales collected in G. H. Hardy's A Mathematician's Apology and (Krantz 2002); examples include:
- Galileo dropping weights from the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
- An apple falling on Isaac Newton's head to inspire his theory of gravitation.
- The drinking, duel and early death of Galois.
- Richard Feynman cracking safes in the Manhattan Project.
- Alfréd Rényi's definition of a mathematician - "a mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems".
- The "turtles all the way down" story told by Stephen Hawking.
- Fermat's lost simple proof.
- If anyone were to successfully divide by zero, a massive paradox would form, destroying the known universe.
- The unwieldy proof and associated controversies of the Four Color Theorem.
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Famous quotes containing the words sayings and/or jokes:
“To speak impartially, both sayings are very true: that man to man is a kind of God; and that man to man is an arrant wolf. The first is true, if we compare citizens amongst themselves; and the second, if we compare cities.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)
“Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee
And I’ll forgive Thy great big one on me.”
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