In presenting a mathematical argument the great thing is to give the educated reader the chance to catch on at once to the momentary point and take details for granted: two trivialities omitted can add up to an impasse). The unpractised writer, even after the dawn of a conscience, gives him no such chance; before he can spot the point he has to tease his way through a maze of symbols of which not the tiniest suffix can be skipped.


A mathematicians's miscellany (ed. 1953)

John Edensor Littlewood Quotes

In presenting a mathematical argument the great thing is to give the educated reader the chance to catch on at once to the momentary point and take...

In presenting a mathematical argument the great thing is to give the educated reader the chance to catch on at once to the momentary point and take...

In presenting a mathematical argument the great thing is to give the educated reader the chance to catch on at once to the momentary point and take...

In presenting a mathematical argument the great thing is to give the educated reader the chance to catch on at once to the momentary point and take...