#elegantproofs

[stuffmyapteachersays]

The mathematician's notion of beauty

"Brief is good. You don't want to crush somebody with all the details. You want to get to the key points, and be crisp. It's really nice if they're elegant. Now, that means clever. It's the mathematician's notion of beauty. Like you go to the art museum, and the artists will say, wow, that's a beautiful painting. In mathematics, you say, wow, that's an elegant proof. It's crisp, clever, short, to the point. And it's really the highest compliment you can get from a mathematician, anyway. And there's a lot of judgment that goes into that. Just like in art-- there's judgment over what is great art."