"Mathematicians might actually be looking at life with a most trenchant sense - one that perceives things the other five senses cannot." (Michael Guillen, "Bridges to Infinity: The Human Side of Mathematics", 1983)
"[…] mathematics is not a science – it is not capable of proving or disproving the existence of real things. In fact, a mathematician’s ultimate concern is that his or her inventions be logical, not realistic." (Michael Guillen, "Bridges to Infinity: The Human Side of Mathematics", 1983)
"The invention of the differential calculus was based on the recognition that an instantaneous rate is the asymptotic limit of averages in which the time interval involved is systematically shrunk. This is a concept that mathematicians recognized long before they had the skill to actually compute such an asymptotic limit." (Michael Guillen, "Bridges to Infinity: The Human Side of Mathematics", 1983)
"[…] equations are like poetry: They speak truths with a unique precision, convey volumes of information in rather brief terms, and often are difficult for the uninitiated to comprehend." (Michael Guillen, "Five Equations That Changed the World" , 1995)
"In the language of mathematics, equations are like poetry: They state truths with a unique precision, convey volumes of information in rather brief terms, and often are difficult for the uninitiated to comprehend. And just as conventional poetry helps us to see deep within ourselves, mathematical poetry helps us to see far beyond ourselves-if not all the way up to heaven, then at least out to the brink of the visible universe." (Michael Guillen, "Five Equations That Changed the World" , 1995)
"It is impossible to understand the true meaning of an equation, or to appreciate its beauty, unless it is read in the delightfully quirky language in which it was penned." (Michael Guillen," Five Equations That Changed the World", 1995)
"Much of what the universe had been, was, and would be, Newton had disclosed, was the outcome of an infinity of material particles all pulling on one another simultaneously. If the result of all that gravitational tussling had appeared to the Greeks to be a cosmos, it was simply because the underlying equation describing their behavior had itself turned out to be every bit a cosmos-orderly, beautiful, and decent." (Michael Guillen," Five Equations That Changed the World", 1995)
"The Law of Entropy Nonconservation required that life be lived forward, from birth to death. […] To wish for the reverse was to wish for the entropy of the universe to diminish with time, which was impossible. One might as well wish for autumn leaves to assemble themselves in neat stacks just as soon as they had fallen from trees or for water to freeze whenever it was heated." (Michael Guillen," Five Equations That Changed the World", 1995)
"While the equations represent the discernment of eternal and universal truths, however, the manner in which they are written is strictly, provincially human. That is what makes them so much like poems, wonderfully artful attempts to make infinite realities comprehensible to finite beings." (Michael Guillen," Five Equations That Changed the World", 1995)
"[…] mathematics is not a science – it is not capable of proving or disproving the existence of real things. In fact, a mathematician’s ultimate concern is that his or her inventions be logical, not realistic." (Michael Guillen, "Bridges to Infinity: The Human Side of Mathematics", 1983)
"The invention of the differential calculus was based on the recognition that an instantaneous rate is the asymptotic limit of averages in which the time interval involved is systematically shrunk. This is a concept that mathematicians recognized long before they had the skill to actually compute such an asymptotic limit." (Michael Guillen, "Bridges to Infinity: The Human Side of Mathematics", 1983)
"[…] equations are like poetry: They speak truths with a unique precision, convey volumes of information in rather brief terms, and often are difficult for the uninitiated to comprehend." (Michael Guillen, "Five Equations That Changed the World" , 1995)
"In the language of mathematics, equations are like poetry: They state truths with a unique precision, convey volumes of information in rather brief terms, and often are difficult for the uninitiated to comprehend. And just as conventional poetry helps us to see deep within ourselves, mathematical poetry helps us to see far beyond ourselves-if not all the way up to heaven, then at least out to the brink of the visible universe." (Michael Guillen, "Five Equations That Changed the World" , 1995)
"It is impossible to understand the true meaning of an equation, or to appreciate its beauty, unless it is read in the delightfully quirky language in which it was penned." (Michael Guillen," Five Equations That Changed the World", 1995)
"Much of what the universe had been, was, and would be, Newton had disclosed, was the outcome of an infinity of material particles all pulling on one another simultaneously. If the result of all that gravitational tussling had appeared to the Greeks to be a cosmos, it was simply because the underlying equation describing their behavior had itself turned out to be every bit a cosmos-orderly, beautiful, and decent." (Michael Guillen," Five Equations That Changed the World", 1995)
"The Law of Entropy Nonconservation required that life be lived forward, from birth to death. […] To wish for the reverse was to wish for the entropy of the universe to diminish with time, which was impossible. One might as well wish for autumn leaves to assemble themselves in neat stacks just as soon as they had fallen from trees or for water to freeze whenever it was heated." (Michael Guillen," Five Equations That Changed the World", 1995)
"While the equations represent the discernment of eternal and universal truths, however, the manner in which they are written is strictly, provincially human. That is what makes them so much like poems, wonderfully artful attempts to make infinite realities comprehensible to finite beings." (Michael Guillen," Five Equations That Changed the World", 1995)
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