--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Everybody in mathematics had given up for…" description: "\"Everybody in mathematics had given up for 100 years or 200 years the idea that you could from pictures, from looking at pictures, find new ideas. That ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53a/benoit-mandelbrot-7685_abstract_everybody-in-mathematics-had-given-up-fo_1217414.jpg" --- # Everybody in mathematics had given up for 100 years or 200… ![“Everybody in mathematics had given up for 100 years or 200 years the idea that you could from pictures, from looking at pictures, find new ideas. That was the case long ago in the Middle Ages, in the Renaissance, in later periods, but then mathematicians had become very abstract.” quote by Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53a/benoit-mandelbrot-7685_abstract_everybody-in-mathematics-had-given-up-fo_1217414.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53a/benoit-mandelbrot-7685_abstract_everybody-in-mathematics-had-given-up-fo_1217414.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53a/benoit-mandelbrot-7685_abstract_everybody-in-mathematics-had-given-up-fo_1217414.jpg) > “Everybody in mathematics had given up for 100 years or 200 years the idea that you could from pictures, from looking at pictures, find new ideas. That was the case long ago in the Middle Ages, in the Renaissance, in later periods, but then mathematicians had become very abstract.” [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Mathematicians once believed visual insight could generate new ideas, but later became overly abstract, ignoring pictorial reasoning. **In simple terms:** Visual thinking was once valued in math, then abandoned. Key Takeaway Reintegrate visual intuition into mathematical research. Themes creativity visualization mathematics Mood reflective inquisitive Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - research brainstorming - teaching - problem solving - interdisciplinary collaboration Key Concepts Abstraction intuition historical shift Questions to Reflect On - How can visual intuition be rigorously integrated? - What modern tools support pictorial reasoning? A Different Perspective Visual methods may lack rigor and be hard to formalize. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [200 Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/200-years/) [Abstract](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstract/) [Age](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/age/) [Cases](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cases/) [Given](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/given/) [Given up](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/given-up/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long/) [Long ago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-ago/) [Mathematician](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematician/) [Mathematicians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematicians/) [Mathematicians Abstract](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematicians-abstract-3715381/) [Mathematics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematics/) [Middle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/middle/) [Middle ages](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/middle-ages/) [New ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-ideas/) [Periods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/periods/) [Periods Mathematicians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/periods-mathematicians-3715383/) [Renaissance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/renaissance/) [Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years/) [Years 200](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years-200-3715382/) ## Related quotes > [It is the the duty of a Webmaster to allocate URIs which you will be able to stand by in 2 years, in 20…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-berners-lee/it-is-the-the-duty-of-a-webmaster-to-allocate-uris-which-you-will-be/) [Tim Berners-Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-berners-lee/) > [In 50 years - or 20 years, or 200 years - our current epistemic horizon (the Big Bang, roughly) may look as parochial as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-dennett/in-50-years-or-20-years-or-200-years-our-current-epistemic-horizon/) [Daniel Dennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-dennett/) > [Most were beginning to feel they had learned enough to last for the rest of their lives. 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