QuinCunx

Srinivasa Ramanujan (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Remembering Ramanujan: India Celebrates Its Famous Mathematical Son: Scientific American :  "Since his death at age 32 mathematicians have analyzed his notebooks ( pdf ), which are full of formulas but light on justification. Most of the formulas have turned out to be correct, and researchers continue to learn from his work while trying to understand and prove them." India 's mathematical heritage extends far beyond Ramanujan's time. The nation is considered home of the concept of zero. Babylonians had used a space as a placeholder (similar to the role of "0" in the number 101), but this space could not stand alone or at the end of a number. (In our number system , as in theirs, this could be problematic; imagine trying to tell the difference between the numbers 1 and 10 by context alone.) In India, however, zero was treated as a number like any other. India is also the home of our decimal numeral system...

Image via Wikipedia Quotes by George Polya. An George Polya Quote Library | The Gaiam Blog : "The traditional mathematics professor of the popular legend is absentminded. He usually appears in public with a lost umbrella in each hand. He prefers to face the blackboard and to turn his back to the class. He writes a, he says b, he means c; but it should be d. Some of his sayings are handed down from generation to generation. 'In order to solve this differential equation you look at it till a solution occurs to you.' 'This principle is so perfectly general that no particular application of it is possible.' 'Geometry is the science of correct reasoning on incorrect figures.' 'My method to overcome a difficulty is to go round it.' 'What is the difference between method and device? A method is a device which you used twice.' George Polya"

Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Quotes by George Polya. An George Polya Quote Library | The Gaiam Blog : "Mathematics is the cheapest science. Unlike physics or chemistry, it does not require any expensive equipment. All one needs for mathematics is a pencil and paper. George Polya"

Image by thane via Flickr Quotes by George Polya. An George Polya Quote Library | The Gaiam Blog : "Even fairly good students , when they have obtained the solution of the problem and written down neatly the argument, shut their books and look for something else. Doing so, they miss an important and instructive phase of the work. . . . A good teacher should understand and impress on his students the view that no problem whatever is completely exhausted. One of the first and foremost duties of the teacher is not to give his students the impression that mathematical problems have little connection with each other, and no connection at all with anything else. We have a natural opportunity to investigate the connections of a problem when looking back at its solution. George Polya"