Steven Strogatz Quotations

When you love a problem, its contours, obstacles and resistances are all just part of its character.

When you create something new, you're breaking tradition - which is an act of defiance.

One of the pleasures of looking at the world through mathematical eyes is that you can see certain patterns that would otherwise be hidden.

You can get a certain amount of pleasure as a mathematical spectator, reading and watching some of the most beautiful arguments that have been created in the history of humanity. But that's too passive.

It is always very striking and almost spooky because it is like order coming out of chaos.

That's the phenomenon. Why did they all start moving in step? They did it unconsciously. That is what nobody had thought about and engineers did not anticipate.

The phenomenon was that people who were walking at random, at their own favorite speed, not organized in any way, spontaneously synchronized, ... That's the phenomenon. Why did they all start moving in step? They did it unconsciously. That is what nobody had thought about and engineers did not anticipate.

We think our theory will provide some guidance to help engineers avoid the problem.

A lot of people were blaming it on the beautiful innovative structure, the design of the Millennium Bridge itself, which was a radical design. But that is not true.

Looking at numbers as groups of rocks may seem unusual, but actually it's as old as math itself. The word "calculate" reflects that legacy - it comes from the Latin word calculus, meaning a pebble used for counting. To enjoy working with numbers you don't have to be Einstein (German for "one stone"), but it might help to have rocks in your head.

I loved this smart, funny, big-hearted novel. As hilarious and wise as early Philip Roth, The Mathematician's Shiva will delight and move you.

Change is most sluggish at the extremes precisely because the derivative is zero there.

The frequencies of the notes in a scale—do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do—sound to us like they’re rising in equal steps. But objectively their vibrational frequencies are rising by equal multiples. We perceive pitch logarithmically.

Logic leaves us no choice. In that sense, math always involves both invention and discovery: we invent the concepts but discover their consequences. … in mathematics our freedom lies in the questions we ask – and in how we pursue them – but not in the answers awaiting us.

In mathematics, our freedom lies in the questions we ask — and in how we pursue them — but not in the answers awaiting us.