"Euler proves you can be a great mathematician even if you calculate a lot. Gauss was good at calculating too, but kept it hidden as if ashamed".
The 2019 course of Don Zagier has started today!
Great geometry moment: M_{1,1}=H/SL(2,Z) described as "toothpaste tube"
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Often the play seems magically to organize itself, in some strange and surprising way. As one fiddles around, obeying the rules of calculation, one often starts to feel as though the rules themselves are somehow pushing one in a certain direction. As though they subtly bias play.
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The great thing about calculation is that one can do it even when one is stuck and frustrated -- which, for most mathematicians, is the usual state of affairs. Calculation can then be a form of active meditation. It keeps the mind turning, often in the right general direction.
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