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A Mathematician's Apology is a 1940 essay by British mathematician G. H. Hardy which defends the pursuit of mathematics for its own sake. Central to Hardy's "apology" – in the sense of a formal justification or defence (as in Plato's Apology of Socrates) – is an argument
- G. H. Hardy, C. P. Snow
- 1940
As I had plenty of opportunities to realize in the future, Hardy had no faith in intuitions or impressions, his own or anyone else's. The only way to assess someone's knowledge, in Hardy's view, was to examine him. That went for mathe matics, literature, philosophy, politics, anything you like.
A Mathematician's Apology is perhaps the most concise piece every written describing the creative process of doing mathematics. Its author, G H Hardy, a world-class theorist of the period between the great wars, describes his attraction to mathematics, defending the role of the pure mathematician.
Snow's Foreword gives sympathetic and witty insights into Hardy's life, with its rich store of anecdotes concerning his collaboration with the brilliant Indian mathematician Ramanujan, his aphorisms and idiosyncrasies, and his passion for cricket.
- (7.2K)
- Paperback
Published in 1940, A Mathematician’s Apology, by G. H. Hardy, is an extended essay on why people study mathematics and how its logical purity, much more than its usefulness in daily life, makes it a worthy pursuit. Hardy was one of the 20th century’s most important mathematicians.
Dec 26, 2011 · G.H. Hardy is one of the very few mathematicians who’s been immortalized in song, by the Embarrassment no less: Hardy’s little book, A Mathematician’s Apology (that’s apology in the sense of defense, not regret), written in 1940 near the end of his career, is an eloquent and concise statement of the mathematician’s, theoretician’s ...
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ANNOTATOR’S PREFACE AlthoughG.H.Hardy,inhismathematicalwriting, was‘abovetheaverageinhiscaretociteothersandprovidebibli-ographiesinhisbooks’,1 AMathematician ...
