"The motivation and standards of creative mathematics are more like those of art than like those of science. Aesthetic judgments transcend both logic and applicability in the ranking of mathematical theorems: beauty and elegance have more to do with the value of a mathematical idea than does either strict truth or possible utility." (Lynn Arthur Steen, "Mathematics Today: Twelve Informal Essays", 1978)
"Illiteracy and innumeracy are social ills created in part by increased demand for words and numbers. As printing brought words to the masses and made literacy a prerequisite for productive life, so now computing has made numeracy an essential feature of today's society. But it is innumeracy, not numeracy, that dominates the headlines: ignorance of basic quantitative tools is endemic […] and is approaching epidemic levels […]." (Lynn A Steen, "Numeracy", Daedalus Vol. 119 No. 2, 1990)
"Mathematics, in the common lay view, is a static discipline based on formulas taught in the school subjects of arithmetic, geometry, algebra, and calculus. But outside public view, mathematics continues to grow at a rapid rate, spreading into new fields and spawning new applications. The guide to this growth is not calculation and formulas but an open-ended search for pattern." (Lynn A Steen, "The Future of Mathematics Education", 1998)
"Mathematics has traditionally been described as the science of number and shape. […] When viewed in this broader context, we see that mathematics is not just about number and shape but about pattern and order of all sorts. Number and shape - arithmetic and geometry - are but two of many media in which mathematicians work. Active mathematicians seek patterns wherever they arise." (Lynn A Steen, "The Future of Mathematics Education", 1998)
"What humans do with the language of mathematics is to describe patterns.What humans do with the language of mathematics is to describe patterns. Mathematics is an exploratory science that seeks to understand every kind of pattern - patterns that occur in nature, patterns invented by the human mind, and even patterns created by other patterns. To grow mathematically children must be exposed to a rich variety of patterns appropriate to their own lives through which they can see variety, regularity, and interconnections." (Lynn A Steen, "The Future of Mathematics Education", 1998)
"For most problems found in mathematics textbooks, mathematical reasoning is quite useful. But how often do people find textbook problems in real life? At work or in daily life, factors other than strict reasoning are often more important. Sometimes intuition and instinct provide better guides; sometimes computer simulations are more convenient or more reliable; sometimes rules of thumb or back-of-the-envelope estimates are all that is needed." (Lynn A Steen,"Twenty Questions about Mathematical Reasoning", 1999)
"Mathematics is often defined as the science of space and number [...] it was not until the recent resonance of computers and mathematics that a more apt definition became fully evident: mathematics is the science of patterns." (Lynn A Steen)
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