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I think most mathematical facts described as beautiful fall into one of the two categories of “consequences of definitions” and “shocking connections”. The firs
by Jonnston 6y ago
I think most mathematical facts described as beautiful fall into one of the two categories of “consequences of definitions” and “shocking connections”. The first happens when the structure of your terms is lined up in just the right way as to make a proof feel automatic and clear, every piece follows right from the previous one in a natural way. The second one is rarer imo, and is enjoyable almost in the same way a clever punchline is. A series of facts are setup, and then your viewpoint is suddenly shifted forcing you to recontextualize those facts and see something new. A lot of “elegant” proofs are of this flavor.
- mcherm 6y agoIn my opinion, your comment contains far more insight than the original article.
- Koshkin 6y agoI guess Category Theory then is mathematical beauty industrialized.
- rogue7 6y agoProofs from THE BOOK compiles such results in a nice way. Springer has made it available [1] for free these days. [1]: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-662-57265-8 https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-662-57265-8
- kkylin 6y agoI remember reading somewhere (one of Gian-Carlo Rota's essays?) that one of the most powerful words in mathematics is "but." Can't recall the exact source, unfortunately.