“Guided only by their feeling for symmetry, simplicity, and generality, and an indefinable sense of the fitness of things, creative mathematicians now, as in the past, are inspired by the art of mathematics rather than by any prospect of ultimate usefulness.”

— Eric Temple Bell

As quoted in 777 Mathematical Conversation Starters http://books.google.co.in/books?id=JNbKURWmODkC&pg=PA172 (2002) by John de Pillis, p. 172

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Eric Temple Bell14

mathematician and science fiction author born in Scotland w… 1883–1960

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“Guided only by their feeling for symmetry, simplicity, and generality, and an indefinable sense of the fitness of things, creative mathematicians now, as in the past, are inspired by the art of mathematics rather than by any prospect of ultimate usefulness.”

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Eric Temple Bell14

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