Mathematicians Of The Day

4th April



On this day in 1820 Farkas Bolyai wrote to his son János about Euclid's 5th postulate:-
Do not try the parallels in that way: I know that way all along. I have measured that bottomless night, and all the light and all the joy of my life went out there.


The postage stamp of one of today's mathematicians at THIS LINK was issued in 1971.

Click on for a poster.


Quotation of the day

From John Napier
Hic liber est minimus, si spectes verba, sed usum
Sid spectes, Lector, maximus hic liber est
Disce, scies parvo tantum debere libello
Te, quantum magnis mille voluminibus

The use of this book is quite large, my dear friend
No matter how modest it looks,
You study it carefully and find that it gives
As much as a thousand big books.
Opening of Descriptio. Translation by D J Struik