"[A]nother fundamental shortcoming... a view that mathematics... progresses only by... 'great and significant works' and 'substantial changes'. ...[T]he truth is far more subtle and interesting: mathematics is the result of a cumulative endeavor to which many... have contributed, and not only through their successes but through half-formed thoughts, tentative proposals, partially worked solutions, and even outright failure."
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Original Language: English
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Sources
Jacqueline Stedall, From Cardano’s Great Art to Lagrange’s Reflections: Filling a Gap in the History of Algebra (2011) Preface, p. ix. See also, her The History of Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction (2012) Ch. 1, Mathematics: myth and history.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/History_of_mathematics
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History of mathematics
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