#numbers

Naturally, I have compensated in my adult years by owning very large numbers of books. ↗

— Martin Lewis Perl

#books #compensated #i #large #large numbers

Two of the most famous Baghdadi scholars, the philosopher Al-Kindi and the mathematician Al-Khawarizmi, were certainly the most influential in transmitting Hindu numerals to the Muslim world. Both wrote books on the subject during al-Ma'mun's reign, and it was their work that was translated into Latin and transmitted to the West, thus introducing Europeans to the decimal system, which was known in the Middle Ages only as Arabic numerals. But it would be many centuries before it was widely accepted in Europe. One reason for this was sociological: decimal numbers were considered for a long time as symbols of the evil Muslim foe. ↗

— Jim Al-Khalili

#muslims #numbers #age

Don't you know anything at all about numbers?" "Well, I don't think they're very important," snapped Milo, too embarrassed to admit the truth. "NOT IMPORTANT!" roared the Dodecahedron, turning red with fury. "Could you have tea for two without the two — or three blind mice without the three? Would there be four corners of the earth if there weren't a four? And how would you sail the seven seas without a seven?" "All I meant was—" began Milo, but the Dodecahedron, overcome with emotion and shouting furiously, carried right on. "If you had high hopes, how would you know how high they were? And did you know that narrow escapes come in all different widths? Would you travel the whole wide world without ever knowing how wide it was? And how could you do anything at long last," he concluded, waving his arms over his head, "without knowing how long the last was? Why, numbers are the most beautiful and valuable things in the world. Just follow me and I'll show you." He turned on his heel and stalked off into the cave. ↗

— Norton Juster

#beauty

Adam and Eve are like imaginary numbers, like the square root of minus one... If you include it in your equation, you can calculate all manners of things, which cannot be imagined without it. ↗

— Philip Pullman

#calculate #cannot #equation #eve #imaginary

In baseball, my theory is to strive for consistency, not to worry about the numbers. If you dwell on statistics you get shortsighted, if you aim for consistency, the numbers will be there at the end. ↗

— Tom Seaver

#aim #baseball #consistency #dwell #end

We can't afford as a nation - not because of money but because of our social fabric - to have large numbers of people who are not working. ↗

— Donna Shalala

#because #fabric #large #large numbers #money

And books that were published in much larger numbers than Selfish, Little are hard to find. And publishers who wanted to publish my last few works have them stuck in limbo while new distribution ideas and legal issues and fears are blown away. ↗

— Peter Sotos

#blown #blown away #books #distribution #fears

Perfect numbers like perfect men are very rare. ↗

— Rene Descartes

#men #numbers #perfect #rare #very

Governments are moved by numbers, and the greater the number of people who admit that they believe, the greater the likelihood that the secret - if there is one being kept - will be revealed. ↗

— Dwight Schultz

#being #believe #governments #greater #kept

Originality exists in every individual because each of us differs from the others. We are all primary numbers divisible only by ourselves. ↗

— Jean Guitton

#differs #divisible #each #every #exists