Archive for the ‘Thinking’ Category

It takes years of training to think simply

July 12, 2007

It takes years of training to think simply.

The ultimate ideas of mathematics are very simple, almost childishly so.
We are not used to thinking about such simple abstract things, and a long training is necessary to secure even a partial immunity from error as soon as we diverge from the beaten path of thought.

— Alfred North Whitehead, An Introduction to Mathematics