Everyone knows what a curve is, until he has studied enough mathematics to become confused through the countless number of possible exceptions. |
The developing science departs at the same time more and more from its original scope and purpose and threatens to sacrifice its earlier unity and split into diverse branches. |
The greatest mathematicians, as Archimedes, Newton, and Gauss, always united theory and applications in equal measure. |
Thus, in a sense, mathematics has been most advanced by those who distinguished themselves by intuition rather than by rigorous proofs. |