FastSaying

The traditional mathematician recognizes and appreciates mathematical elegance when he sees it. I propose to go one step further, and to consider elegance an essential ingredient of mathematics: if it is clumsy, it is not mathematics.

Edsger Dijkstra

Edsger Dijkstra

AppreciatesClumsyConsiderEleganceEssentialFurtherGoHeIngredientMathematicalMathematicianMathematicsProposeSeesStepTraditional

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