grace86
09-22-2006, 04:40 PM
I told some of you guys I was going to start this thread.
In my algebra class my professor made a comment one day. She said that Descartes was a brilliant man...we have the x, y coordinate system and he wrote a couple of math books. But she also said he was an arrogant man. In his textbooks he would give an example of a proof but would leave parts out. In a note at the bottom of the page it said something along the lines of "If you are unable to figure out the parts of the proof I have left out, you are not smart enough to read my book."
I nearly laughed out loud because I had never heard this side of Descartes before. All I heard was his "I think therefore I am" philosophy.
My professor then went on to ask us to compare Descartes comment with Isaac Newton's who said something like "If I can see far it is because I stand upon the shoulders of giants."
Just thought it was an interesting conversation piece...anyone heard of Descartes saying that?
In my algebra class my professor made a comment one day. She said that Descartes was a brilliant man...we have the x, y coordinate system and he wrote a couple of math books. But she also said he was an arrogant man. In his textbooks he would give an example of a proof but would leave parts out. In a note at the bottom of the page it said something along the lines of "If you are unable to figure out the parts of the proof I have left out, you are not smart enough to read my book."
I nearly laughed out loud because I had never heard this side of Descartes before. All I heard was his "I think therefore I am" philosophy.
My professor then went on to ask us to compare Descartes comment with Isaac Newton's who said something like "If I can see far it is because I stand upon the shoulders of giants."
Just thought it was an interesting conversation piece...anyone heard of Descartes saying that?