Topic: problems
Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems.
A good puzzle should demand the exercise of our best wit and ingenuity, and although a knowledge of mathematics and of logic are often of great service in the solution of these things, yet it sometimes happens that a kind of natural cunning and sagacity is of considerable value.
Since you are now studying geometry and trigonometry, I will give you a problem. A ship sails the ocean. It left Boston with a cargo of wool. It grosses 200 tons. It is bound for Le Havre. The main mast is broken, the cabin boy is on deck, there are 12 passengers aboard, the wind is blowing east-north-east, the clock points to a quarter past three in the afternoon. It is the month of May. How old is the captain?
The value of a problem is not so much coming up with the answer as in the ideas and attempted ideas it forces on the would be solver.
In mathematics the art of proposing a question must be held of higher value than solving it.
TOPICS: problems, conjectures
SOURCE: A thesis defended at Cantor’s doctoral dissertation.
The tantalizing and compelling pursuit of mathematical problems offers mental absorption, peace of mind amid endless challenges, repose in activity, battle without conflict, refuge from the goading urgency of contingent happenings, and the sort of beauty changeless mountains present to senses tried by the present-day kaleidoscope of events.
The future mathematician…should solve problems, choose the problems which are in his line, meditate upon their solution, and invent new problems. By this means, and by all other means, he should endeavor to make his first important discovery: he should discover his likes and dislikes, his taste, his own line.
TOPICS: mathematicians, problems