Excerpt from Paul Lockart's _Lament_: "At no time are students let in on the secret that mathematics, like any literature, is created by human beings for their

Excerpt from Paul Lockart's _Lament_: "At no time are students let in on the secret that mathematics, like any literature, is created by human beings for their own amusement; that works of mathematics are subject to critical appraisal; that one can have and develop mathematical taste. A piece of mathematics is like a poem, and we can ask if it satisfies our aesthetic criteria: Is this argument sound? Does it make sense? Is it simple and elegant? Does it get me closer to the heart of the matter?" I remember once in some math class at Berkeley doing a sloppy rush job on a proof assigned as an exercise. The TA grading the assignment gave me credit, but wrote: "Isn't this using an H-bomb to kill a fly?" I was embarrassed, but also kind of glad to know that elegance (or lack thereof) did matter.