“The assumptions and definitions of mathematics and science come from our intuition”

—  Richard Hamming

Methods of Mathematics Applied to Calculus, Probability, and Statistics (1985)
Context: The assumptions and definitions of mathematics and science come from our intuition, which is based ultimately on experience. They then get shaped by further experience in using them and are occasionally revised. They are not fixed for all eternity.

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Richard Hamming 90
American mathematician and information theorist 1915–1998

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