Lewis Carroll,
The Dynamics of a Parti-cle
(1874)
“ Who can tell whether the parallelogram, which in our ignorance we have defined and drawn, and the whole of whose properties we profess to know, may not be all the while panting for exterior angles, sympathetic with the interior, or sullenly repining at the fact that it cannot be inscribed in a circle? ”
Lewis Carroll,
The Dynamics of a Parti-cle
(1874)
“ What mathematician has ever pondered over an hyperbola, mangling the unfortunate curve with lines of intersection here and there, in his efforts to prove some property that perhaps after all is a mere calumny, who has not fancied at last that the ill-used locus was spreading out its asymptotes as a silent rebuke, or winking one focus at him in contemptuous pity? ”
Lewis Carroll,
The Dynamics of a Parti-cle
(1874)
“ The effect of Differentiation on a Particle is very remarkable, the first Differential being frequently of a greater value than the original Particle, and the second of less enlightenment. For example, let L='Leader,' S='Saturday,' and then L.S.='Leader in the Saturday,' (a particle of no assignable value) . Differentiating once, we get L.S.D., a function of great value. Similarly it will be found that, by taking the second Differential of an enlightened Particle, (i.e. raising it to the Degree D.D.,) the enlightenment becomes rapidly less. ”
