Ivor Grattan-Guinness: Basics

Ivor Grattan-Guinness was Historian of mathematics and logic. Explore interesting quotes on basics.
Ivor Grattan-Guinness: 16 quotes0 likes

“Mathematics is one of the most basic -- and most ancient -- types of knowledge. Yet the details of its historical development remain obscure to all but a few specialists.”

Ivor Grattan-Guinness

Text back cover.
Companion encyclopedia of the history and philosophy of the mathematical sciences (2003)

“In addition, the teaching of theories from axioms, or some close imitation of them such as the basic laws of an algebra, is usually an educational disaster.”

Ivor Grattan-Guinness

Source: The Rainbow of Mathematics: A History of the Mathematical Sciences (2000), p. 739.

“Mathematics occupies a peculiar position in cultural life today. 'Everybody knows' that it is one of the most basic, and also ancient, types of knowledge; yet it is not part of normal cultural discourse, and few people know much about its historical development, or even that it has a history.”

Ivor Grattan-Guinness

Companion Encyclopedia of the History and Philosophy of the Mathematical Sciences, Volume 1, page 3, 2003.