I'm currently reading 'Fermats Last Theorem' by Simon Singh and it is actually brilliant! There are parts that I love so much I simply have to share them!
One of my favourite little stories from the book is this: Euclid was the first head of the mathematical department of Alexandria (an ancient city with the biggest library in the world). The story goes that a student asked Euclid what the use was of the piece of mathematics that he was learning. Euclid turned to his slave and said 'give the boy a coin if he wishes to profit from all that he learns' and the student was expelled.
I suppose that just goes to show how times have changed. Back then they did maths just for the purity of numbers, the joy of a puzzle and satisfaction of completeness and now we do it in the name of science for development - I wonder what Euclid would say?
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