I’ve got a paraphrased quote floating around in my mind, and I’m trying to track down the source. I think it was an article online but I have no idea where.
There was a sentence like “proof by contradiction is the closest math comes to irony.” They then laid out a demonstration of a polynomial root that was imaginary and said “We’ve found a number that, when squared, is negative! These numbers are quite peculiar and further study is required of them.”
It was then paralleled with a standard proof by contradiction of the irrationality of √2 , except the proof was ended with “We’ve found a number that is both odd and even! These numbers are quite peculiar and further study is required.”
Does anyone know the source I’m referring to? Thanks!
[Question] Finding a quote: “proof by contradiction is the closest math comes to irony”
I’ve got a paraphrased quote floating around in my mind, and I’m trying to track down the source. I think it was an article online but I have no idea where.
There was a sentence like “proof by contradiction is the closest math comes to irony.” They then laid out a demonstration of a polynomial root that was imaginary and said “We’ve found a number that, when squared, is negative! These numbers are quite peculiar and further study is required of them.”
It was then paralleled with a standard proof by contradiction of the irrationality of √2 , except the proof was ended with “We’ve found a number that is both odd and even! These numbers are quite peculiar and further study is required.”
Does anyone know the source I’m referring to? Thanks!