Beauty Is Truth In Mathematical Intuition: First Empirical Evidence
Thursday, November 20, 2008 - 08:35
in Mathematics & Economics
First empirical evidence for the use of beauty as truth in mathematical intuition reported. French mathematician Jacques Hadamard wrote in 1954 in his famous book “The Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field" that a sense of beauty seems to be almost the only useful “drive” for discovery in mathematics. However, until now evidence has been anecdotal, and the nature of the beauty-truth relationship remained a mystery.