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:
“Many are called but few are chosen. There are sayings of Christ which suggest that the Church he came to establish will always be a minority affair.”
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And I’ll forgive Thy great big one on me.”
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