.

The function of a mathematician is to do something, to prove new theorems, to add to mathematics, and not to talk about what he or other mathematicians have done.

Exposition, criticism, appreciation, is work for second-rate minds.

.

.

If then I find myself writing, not mathematics, but ‘about’ mathematics, it is a confession of weakness, for which I may rightly be scorned or pitied by younger and more vigorous mathematicians.

.

.

— A Mathematician’s Apology (1940), by G. H. Hardy

.

.

.

2009.01.28 Wednesday