Richard Courant (nonfiction)

Richard Courant.

Richard Courant (January 8, 1888 – January 27, 1972) was a German American mathematician.

He is best known by the general public for the book What is Mathematics?, co-written with Herbert Robbins.

Commenting upon his analysis of experimental results from in-laboratory soap film formations, Courant believed that the existence of a physical solution does not obviate mathematical proof:

Empirical evidence can never establish mathematical existence--nor can the mathematician's demand for existence be dismissed by the physicist as useless rigor. Only a mathematical existence proof can ensure that the mathematical description of a physical phenomenon is meaningful.

Fiction cross-reference

• Crimes against mathematical constants
• Gnomon algorithm

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Mathematics (nonfiction)

External links:

• Richard Courant @ Wikipedia