MacTutorMathematicians Of The Day
16th February
Born:
- 1514: Georg Joachim Rheticus (poster)
- 1698: Pierre Bouguer (poster)
- 1822: Francis Galton (poster)
- 1891: Nikoloz Muskhelishvili
- 1903: Beniamino Segre (poster)
- 1903: Geoffrey Timms (poster)
- 1905: Tiberiu Popoviciu (poster)
- 1908: Guglielmo Righini (poster)
- 1937: Yuri Ivanovich Manin (poster)
Died:
- 1637: Henry Gellibrand
- 1892: Thomas Hirst (poster)
- 1971: Rex Tims
- 1976: Lyudmila Vsevolodovna Keldysh (poster)
- 1977: Rózsa Péter (poster)
- 1980: Edward Copson (poster)
- 1999: James McConnell (poster)
Quotation of the day
From Yuri Ivanovich Manin
The goal of a definition is to introduce a mathematical object. The goal of a theorem is to state some of its properties, or interrelations between various objects. The goal of a proof is to make such a statement convincing by presenting a reasoning subdivided into small steps each of which is justified as an "elementary" convincing argument.
To put it simply, we first explain what we are talking about, and then explain why what we are saying is true (pace Bertrand Russell).
