Strogatz Steven Quotes & Sayings

In the early part of the ninth century, Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, a mathematician working in Baghdad, wrote a seminal textbook in which he highlighted the usefulness of restoring a quantity being subtracted (like 2, above) by adding it to the other side of an equation. He called this process al-jabr (Arabic for "restoring"), which later morphed into "algebra." Then, long after his death, he hit the etymological jackpot again. His own name, al-Khwarizmi, lives on today in the word "algorithm. — Steven H. Strogatz

One of the pleasures of looking at the world through mathematical eyes is that you can see certain patterns that would otherwise be hidden. — Steven Strogatz

Yet in another way, calculus is fundamentally naive, almost childish in its optimism. Experience teaches us that change can be sudden, discontinuous, and wrenching. Calculus draws its power by refusing to see that. It insists on a world without accidents, where one thing leads logically to another. Give me the initial conditions and the law of motion, and with calculus I can predict the future -- or better yet, reconstruct the past. I wish I could do that now.
— Steven H. Strogatz

Mme Verdurin asked him: "Did you have some of my orangeade?" Whereupon M. de Charlus, with a gracious smile, in a crystalline tone which he rarely adopted, and with endless simperings and wrigglings of the hips, replied: "No, I preferred its neighbour, which is strawberry-juice, I think. It's delicious."[ ... ]But on hearing M. de Charlus say, in that shrill voice and with that smile and those gestures, "No, I preferred its neighbour, the strawberry-juice," one could say: "Ah, he likes the stronger sex,"[ ... ] — Marcel Proust

You can get a certain amount of pleasure as a mathematical spectator, reading and watching some of the most beautiful arguments that have been created in the history of humanity. But that's too passive. — Steven Strogatz

One of the biggest problems that software developers face is that technology changes rapidly. It is very hard to stay current. — Vivek Wadhwa

It's a curious thing about human psychology that if you don't have the right mental framework, you sometimes can't see what's right in front of your face. — Steven H. Strogatz

let's begin with the word "vector." It comes from the Latin root vehere, "to carry," which also gives us words like "vehicle" and "conveyor belt." To an epidemiologist, a vector is the carrier of a pathogen, like the mosquito that conveys malaria to your bloodstream. To a mathematician, a vector (at least in its simplest form) is a step that carries you from one place to another. — Steven H. Strogatz

When you love a problem, its contours, obstacles and resistances are all just part of its character. — Steven Strogatz

Change is most sluggish at the extremes precisely because the derivative is zero there. — Steven Strogatz

...nothing cements a friendship like hating the same person. — Steven Strogatz

When you create something new, you're breaking tradition - which is an act of defiance. — Steven Strogatz

Don't bleach language, savour it instead. Stroke it gently or even groom it, but don't "purify" it. — Roland Barthes

The frequencies of the notes in a scale - do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do - sound to us like they're rising in equal steps. But objectively their vibrational frequencies are rising by equal multiples. We perceive pitch logarithmically. — Steven Strogatz

I have discovered in my long life that there are many words and phrases which have more power than any spell of magick. The most well-known of these is, of course, I love you. But by far the most deadly is, if only. For these two words can strip a man's strength, his courage and his confidence. They become the father of regret and anguish and pain. — David Gemmell

I loved this smart, funny, big-hearted novel. As hilarious and wise as early Philip Roth, The Mathematician's Shiva will delight and move you. — Steven Strogatz

I think with my hands. I design things to be touched-not for a museum. A piece is ready when it has the shape of something to cherish. — Eva Zeisel

The knowledge that God has loved me beyond all limits will compel me to go into the world to love others in the same way. — Oswald Chambers

As a coach, you've got to do what's best for the team. If guys don't like it, they're going to leave. If they stay and don't like it, well, your team's going to suck anyway. Even if this happens, you still have to do it. You can't coach worrying about any individual. — Doc Rivers

Determination can change your mind. Determination can change your heart. Determination can change your life altogether. — Sri Chinmoy

Looking at numbers as groups of rocks may seem unusual, but actually it's as old as math itself. The word "calculate" reflects that legacy - it comes from the Latin word calculus, meaning a pebble used for counting. To enjoy working with numbers you don't have to be Einstein (German for "one stone"), but it might help to have rocks in your head. — Steven Strogatz