3 ms·

This article reminds me of this: https://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~wtg10/2cultures.pdf https://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~wtg10/2cultures.pdf I especially like the Atiya

• magneticnorth 6y ago
  For those like me who have bookmarked this to read later but are curious what the Atiyah quote is: MINIO: How do you select a problem to study? ATIYAH: I think that presupposes an answer. I don’t think that’s the way I work at all. Some people may sit back and say, “I want to solve this problem” and they sit down and say, “How do I solve this problem?” I don’t. I just move around in the mathematical waters, thinking about things, being curious, interested, talking to people, stirring up ideas; things emerge and I follow them up. Or I see something which connects up with something else I know about, and I try to put them together and things develop. I have practically never started off with any idea of what I’m going to be doing or where it’s going to go. I’m interested in mathematics; I talk, I learn, I discuss and then interesting questions simply emerge. I have never started off with a particular goal, except the goal of understanding mathematics.
  • kkylin 6y ago
    Thanks! I was feeling lazy. The context of the quote is a discussion of whether one solves problems to understand mathematics, or builds general theory (my paraphrasing) to be able to solve specific problems. I read Atiyah's response as "neither."