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* Seeking an Eilenberg quote
@ 2014-02-27 18:55 Colin McLarty
  2014-03-01 19:33 ` Fred Linton
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 2+ messages in thread
From: Colin McLarty @ 2014-02-27 18:55 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: categories

It seems to me I somewhere read that Eilenberg told his students you should
not be able to explain a theorem you prove.  That is, the right proof of
the right theorem will clearer itself than any purported explanation could.

Can anyone give me a good source for that, or for something like it?  Or 
is
it just not a reliable memory?

best, Colin


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* Re: Seeking an Eilenberg quote
  2014-02-27 18:55 Seeking an Eilenberg quote Colin McLarty
@ 2014-03-01 19:33 ` Fred Linton
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 2+ messages in thread
From: Fred Linton @ 2014-03-01 19:33 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Colin McLarty; +Cc: categories

Colin McLarty asked recently whether ...

> ... Eilenberg told his students you should
> not be able to explain a theorem you prove.  That is, the right proof of
> the right theorem will clearer itself than any purported explanation
> could.

Mmm ... More in keeping with Sammy's aesthetic might have been to suggest
You should not NEED to explain any PROOF of a theorem you prove -- that
is, the right proof will be completely self-explanatory.

But I don't think that, in all the years I was exposed to him, I ever
heard him say such a thing explicitly :-) .

Cheers, -- Fred



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2014-02-27 18:55 Seeking an Eilenberg quote Colin McLarty
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