“The thesis of the book,” he writes in response, “when correctly interpreted, is essentially trivial. . . . To ‘prove’ such a mathematical result by a costly and prolonged numerical study of many kinds of business profit and expense ratios is analogous to… — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share Image
“Before the work of Georg Cantor in the nineteenth century, the study of the infinite was as much theology as science; now, we understand Cantor’s theory of multiple infinities, each one infinitely larger than the last, well enough to teach… — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share Image
My reading practice is one reason I mostly don't read electronically. Different books are in different rooms of my house, and one is in… — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share Image
“Knowing mathematics is like wearing a pair of X-ray specs that reveal hidden structures underneath the messy and chaotic surface of the world.” — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share Image
“If you decide what color jelly beans to eat based just on the papers that get published, you’re making the same mistake the army… — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share Image
“Risky strategies can be analyzed numerically; uncertain strategies, Ellsberg suggested, were beyond the bounds of formal mathematical analysis” — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share Image
“if we now feel comfortable rejecting the conclusions of the Witztum study, what does that say about the reliability of our standard statistical tests?” — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share Image
“His most famous paradox goes like this. I decide to walk to the ice cream store. Now certainly I can’t get to the ice… — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share Image
“scientists and statisticians have already been worrying about them for quite some time.” — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share Image
