User talk:Ascii/Mathematicians Level 1

"According to Wikipedia?" Seriously?

We use Wikipedia, if at all, as a tertiary source, as by its very nature it cannot be considered definitive. If we can find a more-or-less "official" published source (e.g. a well-cited historical work) we might be able to categorise them accordingly -- but the whole exercise would be too subjective to be able to be taken as fact. --prime mover (talk) 14:03, 15 August 2019 (EDT)


 * The question of who was objectively more important and influential would need more education to answer it than I have, if it's even a sensible idea.
 * It might even necessarily be unanswerable as maybe some modern day Euclids would prefer to be forgotten about and publish under pseudonyms.
 * So, I don't bother with it and just sometimes think about who people think was great or want others to think was great (similar thoughts for political history if I ever engage with it).
 * There's also that great Eric Temple Bell quote on here: Mathematician:Mathematicians/Sorted By Birth that has made me reconsider this.
 * In any case, this, like much of the other stuff in my user space, is experimental and unintended for the main space. And will probably be unfinished. -- 15:41, 15 August 2019 (EDT)