Dissertation Quote by Keith Devlin
“A PhD in Mathematics is three years of guessing it wrong, plus one week of getting it right and writing a dissertation.”
About This Quote
A PhD in Mathematics involves many false starts, a brief success, and extensive writing.
In simple terms: Math PhD = many guesses, brief success, long writing.
Key Takeaway
Embrace trial, error and perseverance.
Themes
education
mathematics
research
Mood
analytical
encouraging
Type
academic
inspirational
When to use this quote
- graduate studies
- research projects
- academic publishing
- teaching
- career planning
Key Concepts
Persistence
academic rigor
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you handle failure?
- What role does writing play?
A Different Perspective
Success is rare and hard-won.
![“I saw the first one [video with Hans Rosling ] when he did - I think it was his first one - in 2006, a TED Talk. And for the first time in my life, I thought here's someone who can take statistics that most people regard as dull and boring and bring it alive.” quote by Keith Devlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f8c/keith-devlin-19829_alive_i-saw-the-first-one-video-with-hans-rosl_101875.jpg)
![“Hans Rosling typically would go into the room, and he would ask the audience questions. Often they had to answer them with clickers or raising their hands or something. We get [data] wrong because 50 years ago that wasn't the case and because we haven't had these graphics we don't realize that…” quote by Keith Devlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/740/keith-devlin-19829_answers_hans-rosling-typically-would-go-into-the_518165.jpg)
![“Some of the justifiable critiques has been by - been so successful in telling this story, you know, there's a danger of saying, oh, well, you know, we don't need to worry about this because that's absolutely not the case. What [Hans] Rosling is doing is showing us an overall global trend, which in…” quote by Keith Devlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3dd/keith-devlin-19829_bad-thing_some-of-the-justifiable-critiques-has-be_763450.jpg)
![“In fact, we tend to think things have been getting much worse. In fact, over the last 50 years, almost everything in the world on a global scale has got better. And the way that Hans [ Rosling] did this - it was very good.” quote by Keith Devlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/473/keith-devlin-19829_facts_in-fact-we-tend-to-think-things-have-bee_1076728.jpg)
![“In fact, when you try to use [Hans Rosling] data to predict the future, all sorts of problems arise. But what it does do is say, hey, just catch your breath a minute and see what's really been going on. We do have reason to feel good about the fact we've made progress.” quote by Keith Devlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/1a8/keith-devlin-19829_arise_in-fact-when-you-try-to-use-hans-rosling_1084549.jpg)
![“Your tweet is as important as if you would have written a Ph.D. [dissertation] on the subject.” quote by Raoul Peck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/29b/raoul-peck-8162_dissertation_your-tweet-is-as-important-as-if-you-wou_123237.jpg)
