Quotes by Keith Devlin

Keith Devlin

A PhD in Mathematics is three years of guessing it wrong, plus one week of getting it right and writing a dissertation.

Three

Writing

Years

Calculus works by making visible the infinitesimally small.

Certainty

Logic

Ontology

Cardinal arithmetic will be quite important for us, so we spend some time on it. Since, however, it tends to be trivial, we shall not need to spend much of this time on proofs.

Important

Mathematics

Needs

For all the time schools devote to the teaching of mathematics, very little (if any) is spent trying to convey just what the subject is about. Instead, the focus is on learning and applying various procedures to solve math problems. That’s a bit like explaining soccer by saying it is executing a series of maneuvers to get the ball into the goal. Both accurately describe various key features, but they miss the what and the why of the big picture.

School

Soccer

Teaching

Given the brief – and generally misleading – exposure most people have to mathematics at school, raising the public awareness of mathematics will always be an uphill battle.

Battle

People

School

Hans Rosling typically would go into the room, and he would ask the audience questions. Often they had to answer them with clickers or raising their hands or something. We get [data] wrong because 50 years ago that wasn’t the case and because we haven’t had these graphics we don’t realize that over the last 30, 40, 50 years things have changed dramatically. And you see how the world has been getting a better, safer, more homogeneous place. It just has.

Data

Hands

Years

I certainly do care about measuring educational results. But what is an ‘educational result?’ The twinkling eyes of my students, together with their heartfelt and beautifully expressed mathematical arguments are all the results I need.

Educational

Eye

Math

I firmly believe that mathematics does not exist outside of humans. It is something we, as a species, invent.

Believe

Doe

Mathematics

I saw the first one [video with Hans Rosling ] when he did – I think it was his first one – in 2006, a TED Talk. And for the first time in my life, I thought here’s someone who can take statistics that most people regard as dull and boring and bring it alive.

Firsts

People

Thinking

I’ve never met Hans Rosling, but I just knew him through his many YouTube videos, and they were absolute dynamite.

Mets

Video

Youtube

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Adoption

Aerodynamics

Alive

Art

Battle

Believe

Certainty

Couple

Data

Depth

Doe

Education

Educational

Effort

Essence

Eye

Facts

Fashion

Feel Good

Firsts

Goal

Gratitude

Hands

History

Important

Jobs

Levels

Logic

Math

Mathematics

Mean

Mets

Mind

Misunderstood

Needs

Numbers

Ontology

Pages

People

Real

Roots

School

Science

Skills

Skins

Soccer

Statistics

Successful

Teacher

Teaching

The Future Blueprint

Tool

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

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The Autobiography

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Quotes by Keith Devlin

Keith Devlin

A PhD in Mathematics is three years of guessing it wrong, plus one week of getting it right and writing a dissertation.

Calculus works by making visible the infinitesimally small.

Cardinal arithmetic will be quite important for us, so we spend some time on it. Since, however, it tends to be trivial, we shall not need to spend much of this time on proofs.

Given the brief – and generally misleading – exposure most people have to mathematics at school, raising the public awareness of mathematics will always be an uphill battle.

I certainly do care about measuring educational results. But what is an ‘educational result?’ The twinkling eyes of my students, together with their heartfelt and beautifully expressed mathematical arguments are all the results I need.

I firmly believe that mathematics does not exist outside of humans. It is something we, as a species, invent.

I saw the first one [video with Hans Rosling ] when he did – I think it was his first one – in 2006, a TED Talk. And for the first time in my life, I thought here’s someone who can take statistics that most people regard as dull and boring and bring it alive.

I’ve never met Hans Rosling, but I just knew him through his many YouTube videos, and they were absolute dynamite.

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