Fisher, Irving
The effort of the economist is to "see," to picture the interplay of economic elements. The more clearly cut these elements appear in his vision, the better; the more elements he can grasp and hold in his mind at once, the better. The economic world is a misty region. The first explorers used unaided vision. Mathematics is the lantern by which what before was dimly visible now looms up in firm, bold outlines. The old phantasmagoria disappear. We see better. We also see further.
Transactions of Conn. Academy, 1892.
Finkel, Benjamin Franklin
The solution of
problems is one of
the lowest forms of
mathematical
research, ... yet
its educational
value cannot be
overestimated. It is
the ladder by which
the mind ascends
into higher fields
of original research
and investigation.
Many dormant minds
have been aroused
into activity
through the mastery
of a single problem.
The American
Mathematical
Monthly, No. 1.
Feynman, Richard Philips (1918 - 1988)
We have a habit in writing articles published in scientific journals to make the work as finished as possible, to cover up all the tracks, to not worry about the blind alleys or describe how you had the wrong idea first, and so on. So there isn't any place to publish, in a dignified manner, what you actually did in order to get to do the work.
Freeman Dyson
The difference
between a text
without problems and
a text with problems
is like the
difference between
learning to read a
language and
learning to speak
it.