A Princeton math professor

Throughout the course of my first semester, my math professor, Alex, said a few memorable quotes. I wrote them down, and now I feel like sharing them.

“If you can parametrize this equation you can prove that all of 20th century mathematics is bullshit.”

“It’s like saying God exists, saying that a particle goes to its lowest energy.”

“I don’t know much about screws; I screw something once every three years.”

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Student: “After we take the midterm, do we still have classes?”

Alex cocks head: “I suspect so.”

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Alex: “How will this one [problem] look?”

Student: “The same way…?”

Alex: “Are you sure? Are you really sure?”

Student: “Yea…”

Alex: “Yeah okay, you’re right.”

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Alex: “Just put your surveys here, I actually have to run away today.”

Student: “Run away!”

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Student: “Hey Alex, where are you going for fall break?”

Alex: “Boston and then Chicago.”

Student: “How come?”

Alex: “I’m going to give talks on string theory.”

Student: “Oh that’s cool! So you think strings exist?”

Alex: “I don’t really care.”

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“Aristotle once said everything goes to its natural position; a stone falls and for man his natural position is his grave.”

“It’s called z simple, but they should say z not so simple.” (When talking about triple integration)