The aesthetic sensibilities of mathematicians

Nathalie Sinclair

pp. 87-104

in: Nathalie Sinclair, David Pimm, William Higginson (eds), Mathematics and the aesthetic, Berlin, Springer, 2007

Abstract

I begin with a story told by the French mathematician François Le Lionnais (1983) about his first experience, at age seven, of a mathematical discovery. It illustrates, perhaps more immediately than a trip to the Great Museum of "elegant" mathematical proofs, how aesthetic responses, values and experiences can snugly insinuate themselves alongside logical steps and decisions throughout mathematical activity.