21 Jul 2006 - 18:00

John von Neumann on understanding math



Vlorbik left an incredible line from John von Neumann in the comments thread of a post about John Saxon's, Wilfried Schmid's, and Carolyn's thoughts on the conceptual understanding of math:

In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them.


I first encountered this idea in John Saxon's books. Here it is in Saxon Homeschool 6/5 Third edition:

John Saxon often said, "Mathematics is not difficult. Mathematics is just different, and time is the elixir that turns things different into things familiar."


I wish John Saxon hadn't died before I knew who he was.





John Saxon & John von Neumann on math
preface to Saxon Algebra 2



-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Jul 2006

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How about this John von Neumann gem, "There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about."

-- LynnGuelzow - 21 Jul 2006

I love it!

-- CatherineJohnson - 22 Jul 2006

WebLogForm
Title: John von Neumann on understanding math
TopicType: WebLog
SubjectArea: CognitiveScience
LogDate: 200607211210