"Mathematics then becomes the ladder by which we all may climb into the heaven of perfect insight and eternal satisfaction, and the solution of arithmetic and algebraic problems is connected with the salvation of our souls." (Scott Buchanan, "Poetry and Mathematics", 1975)
"Dividing by zero is the closest thing there is to arithmetic blasphemy." (William Dunham, "The Mathematical Universe: An Alphabetical Journey Through the Great Proofs, Problems, and Personalities", 1978)
"[...] an intellectual is a highly educated man who can’t do arithmetic with his shoes on, and is proud of his lack." (Robert A Heinlein, "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls: A comedy of manners", 1985)
"Mathematics is not arithmetic. Though mathematics may have arisen from the practices of counting and measuring it really deals with logical reasoning in which theorems - general and specific statements - can be deduced from the starting assumptions. It is, perhaps, the purest and most rigorous of intellectual activities, and is often thought of as queen of the sciences." (Sir Erik C Zeeman, "Private Games", 1988)
"The letter ‘i’ originally was meant to suggest the imaginary nature of this number, but with the greater abstraction of mathematics, it came to be realized that it was no more imaginary than many other mathematical constructs. True, it is not suitable for measuring quantities, but it obeys the same laws of arithmetic as do the real numbers, and, surprisingly enough, it makes the statement of various physical laws very natural." (John A Paulos, "Beyond Numeracy", 1991)
"He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense." (John McCarthy, "Progress and its Substanability", 1995)
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