Alex's Adventures in Numberland

Abstract mathematical thought is one of the great achievements of the human race, and arguably the foundation of all human progress.

Unlike the humanities, which are in a permanent state of reinvention, as new ideas or fashions replace old ones, and unlike applied science, where theories are undergoing continual refinement, mathematics does not age. The theorems of Pythagoras and Euclid are as valid now as they always were – which is why Pythagoras and Euclid are the oldest names we study at school.