Mathematicians Of The Day

4th April



On this day in 1820 Farkas Bolyai wrote to his son János about Euclid's 5th postulate:-
Do not try the parallels in that way: I know that way all along. I have measured that bottomless night, and all the light and all the joy of my life went out there.

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Quotation of the day

From Walter Rouse Ball
The manner of Demoivre's death has a certain interest for psychologists. Shortly before it, he declared that it was necessary for him to sleep some ten minutes or a quarter of an hour longer each day than the preceding one: the day after he had thus reached a total of something over twenty-three hours he slept up to the limit of twenty-four hours, and then died in his sleep.
History of Mathematics (1901)