A Visit to Hungarian Mathematics

Because my domain is machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), it’s quite common for me to come across abstract mathematical equations that initially made no sense to me. However, as I dove deep into those arcane-looking symbols, I discovered another interesting thing aside from the meaning: I realized that most of the founders of these equations were from Hungary!

I googled, and then, a few clicks later, I stumbled on this very interesting read titled ‘A Visit to Hungarian Mathematics’. Here’s the link 🔗 to this pape . It contained exactly what I was looking for; a detailed introspection into Hungarian mathematicss and the mathematicians surrounding them. While reading the paper, I found a very simple but profoundly impactful quote that I would like to share. It says

Everyone has ideas, both right ideas and wrong ideas. Scientific work consists merely of seperating them

I immediately started voraciously reading the paper from top to bottom, left to right, and backwards too. Even though I am not a mathematician and do not have a mathematics degree (although I have a fairly good amount of mathematical exposure), I love to explore mathematics as a hobby. I sincerely hope that my interest in mathematics is still relevant.

One of the key takeaways from this paper will be a quote by Alfred Renyi, a Hungarian mathematician known for his work in probability theory, combinatorics, and other fields. Once, a gifted mathematician told him that his working ability was heavily dependent on external circumstances. Renyi responded,

“When I’m unhappy, I use math to find happiness; when I’m content, I use math to maintain my happiness.”

Reading about these mathematicians and their passion for pondering, fighting, and finally solving math problems fills me with a deep sense of gratitude towards math.