We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
There are two kinds of results in mathematics: those that are obvious and those that are false.
Ron Getoor (mathematician)For people with small horizons, every function is constant.
Oscar Bruno (mathematician)It's only the false things that are nontrivial.
Michael Sharpe (mathematician)Maturity is only a short break in adolescence.
Jules Feiffer (cartoonist)Maturity is achieved when a person postpones immediate pleasures for long-term values.
Joshua Liebman (author)Money does not buy happiness. I am now worth $50 million. But when I had only $48 million I was just as happy.
Arnold Schwarzenegger (body builder, actor, politician)The world is everywhere dense with idiots.
L. F. S. (mathematician)Chapter Overview
It seems clear that the rolemodel for a student endeavoring to achieve mathematical maturity is the senior, successful mathematician. Such a person could be an academic professor with a vigorous research program and an international reputation. It could be a successful and innovative worker in the private sector—such as Robert Noyce, inventor of the memory chip and the microprocessor. It could be a leader at one of the many government institutes—such as the National Security Agency (largest employer of math Ph.D.s in the world), or the Institute for Defense Analyses, or Oak Ridge National Laboratory, or Lawrence Berkeley Labs.
It is well to examine the attributes that contribute to the professional lives of successful mathematicians. How did they get to their current position of influence and success? What tribulations were met along the way? What can one learn from their career paths?
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
