mathematician

person

collective noun

is a blind man in a dark room, looking for a black cat which isn't there.

A mathematician is a blind man in a dark room, looking for a black cat which isn't there.

is like a painter or poet, a maker of patterns whose material is ideas.

A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.

is one for whom, if you can't count it, it doesn't count.

To the mathematician, if you can't count it, it doesn't count.

is a device for turning coffee into theorems.

A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems.

is someone who can take a cup of coffee and turn it into a theory.

A Mathematician is someone who can take a cup of coffee and turn it into a theory.

is one who knows how to solve a problem, but can't do it.

A mathematician knows how to solve a problem, but can't do it. — Milne

is distinguished from the engineer in that engineers can compute but not define, mathematicians can define but not compute.

Engineers can compute but not define, mathematicians can define but not compute, economists can neither define nor compute.

mathematician, n.All

mathematician