Layman here Thank you so much for pointing this out! Experimental mathematics feels like a missing puzzle piece in which it makes so much more sense. Quotes a

Layman here Thank you so much for pointing this out! Experimental mathematics feels like a missing puzzle piece in which it makes so much more sense. Quotes are from the wiki article you linked. > As expressed by Paul Halmos: "Mathematics is not a deductive science—that's a cliché. When you try to prove a theorem, you don't just list the hypotheses, and then start to reason. What you do is trial and error, experimentation, guesswork. You want to find out what the facts are, and what you do is in that respect similar to what a laboratory technician does."[3] I wish there were books on how people would describe their complete process (not only their proof) on how they figured things out. > Mathematicians have always practised experimental mathematics. Existing records of early mathematics, such as Babylonian mathematics, typically consist of lists of numerical examples illustrating algebraic identities. However, modern mathematics, beginning in the 17th century, developed a tradition of publishing results in a final, formal and abstract presentation. The numerical examples that may have led a mathematician to originally formulate a general theorem were not published, and were generally forgotten. Why is this the case? It seems like it doesn't benefit us other than saving some paper. > The following mathematicians and computer scientists have made significant contributions to the field of experimental mathematics: Fabrice Bellard Donald Knuth Stephen Wolfram (among others) --> This is so awesome, it also sheds some light into how these people think.