Quote

Mathematics consists in proving the most obvious thing in the least obvious way.

George Polya

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

George Polya
Logic
Mathematics
Obvious
Proving
Prove
Mathematician
Least
Reasoning
Knowledge
Consists
Thing
Mathematical
Way
Math

More quotes by George Polya

Image
The principle is so perfectly general that no particular application of it is possible.
George Polya
Image
If you wish to learn swimming you have to go into the water and if you wish to become a problem solver you have to solve problems.
George Polya
Image
A mathematics teacher is a midwife to ideas.
George Polya
Image
The world is anxious to admire that apex and culmination of modern mathematics: a theorem so perfectly general that no particular application of it is feasible.
George Polya
Image
Mathematics is being lazy. Mathematics is letting the principles do the work for you so that you do not have to do the work for yourself
George Polya
Image
The first rule of discovery is to have brains and good luck. The second rule of discovery is to sit tight and wait till you get a bright idea.
George Polya
Image
Look around when you have got your first mushroom or made your first discovery: they grow in clusters.
George Polya
Image
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
Image
I am intentionally avoiding the standard term which, by the way, did not exist in Euler's time. One of the ugliest outgrowths of the new math was the premature introduction of technical terms.
George Polya
Image
There exist a lot of questions that the fools can ask, and the intelligent cannot answer.
George Polya
Image
Geometry is the science of correct reasoning on incorrect figures.
George Polya
Image
My method to overcome a difficulty is to go round it.
George Polya
Image
Solving problems is a practical art, like swimming, or skiing, or playing the piano: you can learn it only by imitation and practice.
George Polya
Image
The open secret of real success is to throw your whole personality into your problem.
George Polya
Image
The first and foremost duty of the high school in teaching mathematics is to emphasize methodical work in problem solving...The teacher who wishes to serve equally all his students, future users and nonusers of mathematics, should teach problem solving so that it is about one-third mathematics and two-thirds common sense.
George Polya
Image
You should not put too much trust in any unproved conjecture, even if it has been propounded by a great authority, even if it has been propounded by yourself. You should try to prove it or disprove it.
George Polya
Image
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
A great discovery solves a great problem, but there is a grain of discovery in the solution of any problem. Your problem may be modest, but if it challenges your curiosity and brings into play your inventive faculties, and if you solve it by your own means, you may experience the tension and enjoy the triumph of discovery.
George Polya
Image
The result of the mathematician's creative work is demonstrative reasoning, a proof but the proof is discovered by plausible reasoning, by guessing.
George Polya
Image
When introduced at the wrong time or place, good logic may be the worst enemy of good teaching.
George Polya