Definition:Mathematics

An attempt at a definition
From Wikipedia:


 * "Mathematics is the academic discipline, and its supporting body of knowledge, that involves the study of such concepts as quantity, structure, space and change. Other practitioners of mathematics maintain that mathematics is the science of pattern, and that mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere. Mathematicians explore such concepts, aiming to formulate new conjectures and establish their truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions."


 * [[Image:Purity.png|framed|center|"Purity" from the webcomic XKCD ]]

St. Augustine of Hippo

 * "Quapropter bono christiano, sive mathematici, sive quilibet impie divinantium, maxime dicentes vera, cavendi sunt, ne consortio daemoniorum animam deceptam, pacto quodam societatis irretiant."
 * - De Genesi ad Litteram (The Literal Interpretation of Genesis), 408 C.E. II, xvii, 37

The translation published in :
 * "The good Christian should beware the mathematician and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of hell."

A later and more currently accurate translation is given by J.H. Taylor in Ancient Christian Writers (1982):
 * "Hence, a devout Christian must avoid astrologers and all impious soothsayers, especially when they tell the truth, for fear of leading his soul into error by consorting with demons and entangling himself with the bonds of such association."

The Latin word mathematici derives from the Greek meaning of "something learned" and referred mainly to astrologers. At the time, astrology was the main outlet for the talents of a mathematically-minded person, so the slur may have been more well-directed than a current interpretation may allow.

At least as recently as 1710, the word "mathematician" still meant "astrologer".

David Hilbert
One day, David Hilbert noticed that one of his students was no longer attending his lectures. He was told that the student had given up mathematics, and taken up poetry instead.

Hilbert replied:
 * "Good - he did not have enough imagination to become a mathematician."