Observation is the abundant source of invention in the world of subjective realities just so as it is in the world of phenomena perceptible by the senses.
Concerning the mental procedures of mathematicians there is a simple remark extensively confirmed by the history of science:observation has an important place and plays a great role in their procedures.
(观察是主观实体世界中发明的富足源泉,恰如它是感观可知觉的现象世界中发明的富足源泉一样。
关于数学家的心理过程,存在着一个被科学史普遍认可的简单说法:观察有着重要的地位,并在数学家的心理过程中起着巨大的作用。)
——艾米特
Observation may 1ead to discovery.
Observation should disclose some regularity, pattern,or law.
(观察可能导致发现。
观察将揭示某种规则、模式或定律。)
——波利亚
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
(想象比知识更重要。)
——爱因斯坦
The moving power of mathematical invention is not reasoning,but imagination.
(数学发明创造的动力不是推理,而是想象力的发挥。)
——德摩根
I find both a special pleasure and constraint.
In describing the progress of mathematics,
Because it has been part of so much speculation。
A 1adder for mystical as well as rational thought.
In the intellectual ascent of man.
(描述数学发展的历程,
我感到既矛盾又高兴。
数学有太多的幻想成份,
伴随人类的文明延伸,
饱含着神秘与理性。)
——布罗诺斯基(I.Bronowski)
Non—mathematical induction play an essential role in mathematical research。
(非数学归纳法在数学的研究中,起着不可缺少的作用。)
——舒尔(I.Schur)
Observation yields only tentative generalizations,conjectures,not proofs。
(观察只获得试验性质的梗概、猜想,而不是证明。)
—— 波利亚
Most mathematical creations are the result of intuition,a rather direct perception of fact or rapid apprehension rather independent of any long or formal reasoning process.
(多数的数学创造是直觉的结果,对事实多少有点儿直接的知觉或快速的理解,而与任何冗长的或形式的推理过程无关。)
—— 卢卡斯(William F.Lucas)