--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Some of you may have met mathematicians…" description: "\"Some of you may have met mathematicians and wondered how they got that way.\" — Tom Lehrer" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f9/tom-lehrer-3442_mathematician_some-of-you-may-have-met-mathematicians_1950589.jpg" --- # Some of you may have met mathematicians and wondered how… ![“Some of you may have met mathematicians and wondered how they got that way.” quote by Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f9/tom-lehrer-3442_mathematician_some-of-you-may-have-met-mathematicians_1950589.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f9/tom-lehrer-3442_mathematician_some-of-you-may-have-met-mathematicians_1950589.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f9/tom-lehrer-3442_mathematician_some-of-you-may-have-met-mathematicians_1950589.jpg) > “Some of you may have met mathematicians and wondered how they got that way.” [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Mathematicians often seem odd, prompting curiosity about their mindset and methods. **In simple terms:** People wonder why mathematicians act strangely. Key Takeaway Embrace curiosity about different thinking styles. Themes curiosity math stereotypes Mood playful thoughtful Type humorous observational When to use this quote - classroom discussions - career guidance - public talks - media interviews Key Concepts cognitive diversity social perception Questions to Reflect On - What assumptions do you make about mathematicians? - How can you learn from their problem‑solving approaches? A Different Perspective Not all mathematicians fit the stereotype; individual variation exists. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Mathematician](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematician/) [Mathematicians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematicians/) [Mathematics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematics/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Wonder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wonder/) ## Related quotes > [“I wondered if they got to enjoy being normal, to know just how terrific it was, or whether it was just invisible to them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barnes/i-wondered-if-they-got-to-enjoy-being-normal-to-know-just-how/) [John Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barnes/) > [I am very glad there are quite a number of people born with a gift and a liking for all of this; like great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/i-am-very-glad-there-are-quite-a-number-of-people-born-with-a-gift/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [In the broad light of day mathematicians check their equations and their proofs, leaving no stone unturned in their search for rigour. But, at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-atiyah/in-the-broad-light-of-day-mathematicians-check-their-equations-and/) [Michael Atiyah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-atiyah/) > [The way in which mathematicians and physicists and historians talk is quite different, and what a physicist means by physical intuition and what a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-geertz/the-way-in-which-mathematicians-and-physicists-and-historians-talk-is/) [Clifford Geertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-geertz/) > [Oh these mathematicians make me tired! When you ask them to work out a sum they take a piece of paper, cover it with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-a-edison/oh-these-mathematicians-make-me-tired-when-you-ask-them-to-work-out-a/) [Thomas A. Edison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-a-edison/) > [Philosophers and psychiatrists should explain why it is that we mathematicians are in the habit of systematically erasing our footsteps. Scientists have always looked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gian-carlo-rota/philosophers-and-psychiatrists-should-explain-why-it-is-that-we/) [Gian-Carlo Rota](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gian-carlo-rota/) > [Mathematicians seem to have no difficulty in creating new concepts faster than the old ones become well understood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-norton-lorenz/mathematicians-seem-to-have-no-difficulty-in-creating-new-concepts/) Edward Norton Lorenz > [I never got a pass mark in math... Just imagine - mathematicians now use my prints to illustrate their books. Funny me consorting with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-c-escher/i-never-got-a-pass-mark-in-math-just-imagine-mathematicians-now-use/) [M. C. Escher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-c-escher/) > [If there should chance to be any mathematicians who, ignorant in mathematics yet pretending to skill in that science, should dare, upon the authority…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolaus-copernicus/if-there-should-chance-to-be-any-mathematicians-who-ignorant-in/) [Nicolaus Copernicus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolaus-copernicus/) > [It is a melancholy experience for a professional mathematician to find himself writing about mathematics. The function of a mathematician is to do something,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-h-hardy/it-is-a-melancholy-experience-for-a-professional-mathematician-to/) [G. H. Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-h-hardy/) > [Mathematicians, like cows in the dark, all look alike to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-flexner/mathematicians-like-cows-in-the-dark-all-look-alike-to-me/) [Abraham Flexner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-flexner/) > [In my experience most mathematicians are intellectually lazy and especially dislike reading experimental papers. He seemed to have very strong biological intuitions but unfortunately…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-crick/in-my-experience-most-mathematicians-are-intellectually-lazy-and/) [Francis Crick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-crick/) > [Some humans are mathematicians-others aren't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-goodall/some-humans-are-mathematicians-others-aren-t/) [Jane Goodall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-goodall/) > [As for mathematicians themselves: don't expect too much help. Most of them are too far removed in their ivory towers to take up such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/apostolos-doxiadis/as-for-mathematicians-themselves-don-t-expect-too-much-help-most-of/) [Apostolos Doxiadis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/apostolos-doxiadis/) > [If enough money is involved and enough people believe that two plus two equals five the media will report the story with a straight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-jacoby/if-enough-money-is-involved-and-enough-people-believe-that-two-plus/) [Susan Jacoby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-jacoby/) ## More by Tom Lehrer > [Plagiarize, plagiarize, / Let no man's work evade your eyes, / Remember why the good Lord made your eyes, / Don't shade your eyes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/plagiarize-plagiarize-let-no-man-s-work-evade-your-eyes-remember-why/) [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) > [I ache for the touch of your lips dear, but much more for the touch of your whips dear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/i-ache-for-the-touch-of-your-lips-dear-but-much-more-for-the-touch-of/) [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) > [When someone makes a move Of which we don't approve, Who is it that always intervenes? U.N. and O.A.S., They have their place, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/when-someone-makes-a-move-of-which-we-don-t-approve-who-is-it-that/) [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) > [I'm not tempted to write a song about George W. Bush. I couldn't figure out what sort of song I would write. That's the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/i-m-not-tempted-to-write-a-song-about-george-w-bush-i-couldn-t-figure/) [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) > [Don't solicit for your sister, it's not nice. Unless you get a good percentage of her price.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/don-t-solicit-for-your-sister-it-s-not-nice-unless-you-get-a-good/) [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) > [It is a sobering thought that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/it-is-a-sobering-thought-that-when-mozart-was-my-age-he-had-been-dead/) [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) > [“I am never forget the day I first meet the great Lobachevsky. In one word he told me secret of success in mathematics: Plagiarize!…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/i-am-never-forget-the-day-i-first-meet-the-great-lobachevsky-in-one/) [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) > [Counting in octal is just likst counting in decimal--if you don't use your thumbs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/counting-in-octal-is-just-likst-counting-in-decimal-if-you-don-t-use/) [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) > [Disclaimer: If anyone disagrees with anything I say, I am quite prepared to not only retract it, but also to deny under oath I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/disclaimer-if-anyone-disagrees-with-anything-i-say-i-am-quite/) [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) > [Don't write naughty words on the wall if you can't spell!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/don-t-write-naughty-words-on-the-wall-if-you-can-t-spell/) [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) > [I don't want to satirise George Bush and his puppeteers, I want to vaporise them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/i-don-t-want-to-satirise-george-bush-and-his-puppeteers-i-want-to/) [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) > [San Francisco is a city of twenty-something millionaire white kids named Doug.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/san-francisco-is-a-city-of-twenty-something-millionaire-white-kids/) [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) > [On Christmas day you can't get sore, Your fellow man you must adore, There's time to cheat him all the more The other three…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/on-christmas-day-you-can-t-get-sore-your-fellow-man-you-must-adore/) [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) > [Be prepared, and be careful not to do your good deeds when there's no one watching you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/be-prepared-and-be-careful-not-to-do-your-good-deeds-when-there-s-no/) [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) > [There's something mathematically satisfying about music: notes fit together and harmony and all that. And mathematics has to do with abstractions and making connections.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/there-s-something-mathematically-satisfying-about-music-notes-fit/) [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) [Explore all 130 Tom Lehrer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) ## More Mathematician quotes > [“π is a mathematician’s dessert”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neve-maslakovic/is-a-mathematician-s-dessert/) Neve Maslakovic > [If enough money is involved and enough people believe that two plus two equals five the media will report the story with a straight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-jacoby/if-enough-money-is-involved-and-enough-people-believe-that-two-plus/) [Susan Jacoby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-jacoby/) > [Proof is an idol before which the mathematician tortures himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-eddington/proof-is-an-idol-before-which-the-mathematician-tortures-himself/) [Arthur Eddington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-eddington/) > [Truth is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-von-neumann/truth-is-much-too-complicated-to-allow-anything-but-approximations/) [John von Neumann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-von-neumann/) > [“I am a mathematician and I can confidently say that the best figure ever produced is your phone number.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amit-kalantri/i-am-a-mathematician-and-i-can-confidently-say-that-the-best-figure/) [Amit Kalantri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amit-kalantri/) > [God is the original Mathematician](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frenchqueen/god-is-the-original-mathematician/) Frenchqueen > [Autism is a big continuum, going from someone who remains nonverbal, all the way up to geniuses on Silicon Valley. And some kids are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/temple-grandin/autism-is-a-big-continuum-going-from-someone-who-remains-nonverbal/) [Temple Grandin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/temple-grandin/) > [Every man who is not a monster, a mathematician, or a mad philosopher, is the slave of some woman or other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/every-man-who-is-not-a-monster-a-mathematician-or-a-mad-philosopher/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [“Et peut-être la posterité me saura gré de lui avoir fait connaître que les Anciens n’ont pas tout su. ( And perhaps, posterity will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-de-fermat/et-peut-tre-la-posterit-me-saura-gr-de-lui-avoir-fait-conna-tre-que/) [Pierre De Fermat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-de-fermat/) > [If you ask ... the man in the street ... the human significance of mathematics, the answer of the world will be, that mathematics…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassius-jackson-keyser/if-you-ask-the-man-in-the-street-the-human-significance-of/) [Cassius Jackson Keyser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassius-jackson-keyser/) > [As for mathematicians themselves: don't expect too much help. Most of them are too far removed in their ivory towers to take up such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/apostolos-doxiadis/as-for-mathematicians-themselves-don-t-expect-too-much-help-most-of/) [Apostolos Doxiadis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/apostolos-doxiadis/) > [Being a mathematician is a bit like being a manic depressive: you spend your life alternating between giddy elation and black despair.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-g-krantz/being-a-mathematician-is-a-bit-like-being-a-manic-depressive-you/) Steven G. Krantz > [In mathematics, if I find a new approach to a problem, another mathematician might claim that he has a better, more elegant solution. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emanuel-lasker/in-mathematics-if-i-find-a-new-approach-to-a-problem-another/) [Emanuel Lasker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emanuel-lasker/) > [Some humans are mathematicians-others aren't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-goodall/some-humans-are-mathematicians-others-aren-t/) [Jane Goodall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-goodall/) > [No form of art repeats or imitates successfully all that can be said by another; the writer conveys his experience of life along a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/storm-jameson/no-form-of-art-repeats-or-imitates-successfully-all-that-can-be-said/) [Storm Jameson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/storm-jameson/) [Browse all 676 Mathematician quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematician/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Some of you may have met mathematicians and wondered how they got that way.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tom Lehrer" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/some-of-you-may-have-met-mathematicians-and-wondered-how-they-got/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Mathematician" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/some-of-you-may-have-met-mathematicians-and-wondered-how-they-got/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f9/tom-lehrer-3442_mathematician_some-of-you-may-have-met-mathematicians_1950589.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f9/tom-lehrer-3442_mathematician_some-of-you-may-have-met-mathematicians_1950589.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f9/tom-lehrer-3442_mathematician_some-of-you-may-have-met-mathematicians_1950589.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Some of you may have met mathematicians and wondered how they got that way.” — Tom Lehrer", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Tom Lehrer", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Some of you may have met...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/some-of-you-may-have-met-mathematicians-and-wondered-how-they-got/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/some-of-you-may-have-met-mathematicians-and-wondered-how-they-got/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```