Sunday, August 17, 2008

Levels of Confusions

We do not know many things. We seem to learn few things as time passes but there is this nagging feeling of incomprehensibility. Here is a quote from Oksendal's Stochastic Differential Equations:
We have not succeeded in answering all our problems. The answers we have found only serve to raise a whole set of new questions. In some ways we feel we are as confused as ever, but we believe we are confused on a higher level and about more important things.
- Posted outside the mathematics reading room, Tromso University
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Going Through the Past

What is the role of evolution of ideas in communicating those ideas? Here is a quote for us to think about such issues.
The task of the educator is to make the child's spirit pass again where its forefathers have gone, moving rapidly through certain stages but suppressing none of them. In this regard, the history of science must be our guide.
- Poincare
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