Funny Math Saying
'Obvious' is the most dangerous word in mathematics."
Eric Bell Temple
2 is not equal to 3 - not even for very large values of 2.
Grabel's Law
Variables won't, constants aren't.
Osborn's Law
Women have a passion for mathematics. They divide their age in half, double the price of their clothes, and always add at least five years to the age of their best friend.
Marcel Achard
"Standard deviation? I don't do that stuff. I'm actually a group theorist."
Prof. D. Wise, in lecture (Math 221, Spring 1998)
"You pronounce 'monodromy' so it doesn't rhyme with 'monotony.'"
Prof. Graeme Bailey, in lecture (Math 401, spring 2000)
"It says something about math that 'monotonous' is a technical term."
Alex Kay (a nonmathematician friend)
"Obviously this is weak chalk...or else I'm a very strong mathematician."
Prof. Allen Hatcher, in lecture (Math 453, fall 2000)
"Enrolling in an honors course is like asking for jalapeņo peppers in your burrito. I'll try to give you enough peppers to make your eyes water and your nose run, but not so many that you feel like you're about to die."
Prof. Ken Brown, in the handout for Math 433 (fall 2000)
"Mathematicians tend to despise Dirac notation, because it can prevent them from making important distinctions, but physicists love it, because they are always forgetting such distinctions exist and the notation liberates them from having to remember."--Prof. N. David Mermin, a footnote to his "Lecture Notes on Quantum Computation and Quantum Information Theory"
"I don't know if this prelim will be too hard, too easy, or just right. If it's too hard, there's a curve, so it's all right. If it's too easy, I doubt you'll complain. So it's going to be just right no matter what."--Prof. Sen, before the first prelim in Math 434 (spring 2001)