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David Wells
In the Fall 1988 Mathematical Intelligencer (vol. 10, no. 4) (11) The order of a subgroup divides 5.3
readers were asked to evaluate 24 theorems, on a scale the order of the group.
from 0 to 10, for beauty. I received 76 completed ques- (12) Any square matrix satisfies its 5.2
tionnaires, including 11 from a preliminary version
characteristic equation.
(plus 10 extra, noted below.)
One person assigned each theorem a score of 0, (13) A regular icosahedron inscribed in 5.0
with the comment, "Maths is a tool. Art has beauty"; a regular octahedron divides the
that response was excluded from the averages listed edges in the Golden Ratio.
below, as was another that awarded very many zeros, (14) 1 1
4.8
four who left many blanks, and two w h o awarded nu- 2x3x4 4x5x6
merous 10s. + 1
The 24 theorems are listed below, ordered by their 6x7x8
average score from the remaining 68 responses 9 ,rr-3
9 " 4
THE MATHEMATICAL INTELLIGENCER VOL. 12, NO. 3 9 1990 Springer-Verlag New York 3 7
there is a pair of points of the same s p o n d e n t s disliked judging theorems. (How many
colour of mutual distance unity. readers did not reply for such reasons?)
Benno Artmann wrote "for me it is impossible to
(16) The number of partitions of an 4.7
judge a 'pure fact' "; this is consistent with his interest
integer into odd integers is equal
in Bourbaki and the axiomatic development of struc-
to the number of partitions into
tures.
distinct integers.
Thomas Drucker: "One does not have to be a Rus-
(17) Every number greater than 77 is 4.7 sellian to feel that much of mathematics has to do with
the sum of integers, the sum of deriving consequences from assumptions. As a result,
whose reciprocals is 1. any 'theorem' cannot be isolated from the assump-
tions under which it is derived."
(18) The number of representations of 4.7
Gerhard Domanski: "Sometimes I find a problem
an odd number as the sum of 4
more beautiful than its solution. I find also beauty in
squares is 8 times the sum of its
mathematical ideas or constructions, such as the
divisors; of an even number, 24
Turing machine, fractals, twistors, and so on . . . . The
times the sum of its odd divisors.
ordering of a whole field, like the work of Bourbaki
(19) There is no equilateral triangle 4.7 9 . . is of great beauty to me."
whose vertices are plane lattice R. P. Lewis writes, ' ( 1 ) . . . I award 10 points not so
points. much for the equation itself as for Complex Analysis
as a whole.' To what extent was the good score for (4)
(20) At any party, there is a pair of 4.7
a vote for the beauty of the Platonic solids themselves?
people w h o have the same number
of friends present.
(21) Write d o w n the multiples of root 4.2 T h e m e 2: Social Factors
2, ignoring fractional parts, and
Might some votes have gone to (1), (3), (5), (7), and (8)
underneath write the numbers
because they are 'known' to be beautiful? I am suspi-
missing from the first sequence.
cious that (1) received so many scores in the 7 - 1 0
12 4 5 7 8 91112
range. This would surprise me, because I suspect that
3 6 10 13 17 20 23 27 30
mathematicians are more i n d e p e n d e n t than most
The difference is 2n in the nth
people [13] of others' opinions. (The ten extra forms
place.
referred to above came from Eliot Jacobson's students
(22) The word problem for groups is 4.1 in his number theory course that emphasises the role
unsolvable. of beauty. I noted that they gave no zeros at all.)
(23) The maximum area of a 3.9
quadrilateral with sides a , b , c , d T h e m e 3: C h a n g e s in A p p r e c i a t i o n over T i m e
is [(s - a)(s - b)(s - c)(s - d)] w,
where s is half the perimeter. There was a notable number of low scores for the high
5 [ ( 1 - - X5)(1 -- x l O ) ( I -- X 1 3 . . 9 15
rank theorems 9 Le Lionnais has one explanation [7]:
"Euler's formula ei~' = - 1 establishes what appeared
(24) [(1 - x)(1 - x2)(1 - x3)(1 - x4)... 16 3.9
in its time to be a fantastic connection between the
= p(4) + p(9)x + p(14)xa + .... most important numbers in mathematics . . . It was
generally considered 'the most beautiful formula of
where p ( n ) is the number of
mathematics' . . . Today the intrinsic reason for this
partitions of n.
compatibility has become so obvious that the same
formula n o w seems, if not insipid, at least entirely nat-
The following comments are divided into themes.
ural." Le Lionnais, unfortunately, does not qualify
Unattributed quotes are from respondents.
" n o w seems" by asking, "'to whom?"
H o w does judgment change with time? Burnside
T h e m e 1: Are T h e o r e m s Beautiful? [1], referring to % group which is . . . abstractly
e q u i v a l e n t to that of the p e r m u t a t i o n s of f o u r
Tony Gardiner argued that "Theorems aren't usually symbols," wrote, "in the latter form the problem pre-
'beautiful'. It's the ideas and proofs that appeal," and sented would to many minds be almost repulsive in its
remarked of the theorems he had not scored, "The naked f o r m a l i t y . . . "
rest are hard to s c o r e - - e i t h e r because they aren't Earlier [2], perspective projection was, "'a process
really beautiful, however important, or because the occasionally resorted to by geometers of our o w n
formulation given gets in the way . . . . " Several re- country, but generally e s t e e m e d . . , to be a species of