The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once remarked that if you ask a man how much is two plus two and he tells you five, that is a mistake. But if you ask a man how much is two plus two and he tells you ninety-seven, that is no longer a mistake. The man you are talking to is operating with a wholly different logic from your own.

—Thomas Friedman

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More quotations tagged with “math”

Without mathematics, there's nothing you can do. Everything around you is mathematics.
Everything around you is numbers.

—Shakuntala Devi

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The creator of the universe works in mysterious ways. But he uses a base ten counting system and likes round numbers.

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2 is not equal to 3, not even for large values of 2.

—Grabel's Law

I've done the calculation and your chances of winning the lottery are identical whether you play or not.

—Fran Lebowitz

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Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever.

—Albert Einstein

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