Math Quotes

"'Obvious' is the most dangerous word in mathematics."--Eric Bell Temple

DISCLAIMER: These quotes are in no way intended to insult or poke fun at the people to whom they're attributed. If you find yourself quoted here and are offended, email me and I'll take down the quote(s). If you find yourself amused, I'm doing something right. Some of these are taken from professors whose classes I enjoyed and who had the good taste to be funny in lecture, and from other random sources. More will appear as they present themselves, and feel free to send them in.

"Standard deviation? I don't do that stuff. I'm actually a group theorist."--Prof. D. Wise, in lecture (Math 221, Spring 1998)

"You pronounce 'monodromy' so it doesn't rhyme with 'monotony.'"--Prof. Graeme Bailey, in lecture (Math 401, Spring 2000)

"It says something about math that 'monotonous' is a technical term."--Alex Kay, nonmathematician friend

"Obviously this is weak chalk...or else I'm a very strong mathematician."--Prof. Allen Hatcher, in lecture (Math 453, Fall 2000)

"Enrolling in an honors course is like asking for jalapeno peppers in your burrito. I'll try to give you enough peppers to make your eyes water and your nose run, but not so many that you feel like you're about to die."--Prof. Ken Brown, in the handout for Math 433 (Fall 2000)

"Mathematicians tend to Dirac notation, because it can prevent them from making important distinctions, but physicists love it, because they are always forgetting such distinctions exist and the notation liberates them from having to remember."--Prof. N. David Mermin, a footnote to his "Lecture Notes on Quantum Computation and Quantum Information Theory"

"I don't know if this prelim will be too hard, too easy, or just right. If it's too hard, there's a curve, so it's all right. If it's too easy, I doubt you'll complain. So it's going to be just right no matter what."--Prof. Sen, before the first prelim in Math 434 (Spring 2001)

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