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Deus ex Machina and the Aesthetics of Proof
Mathematical Intelligencer 32:7-11 (2010)
Abstract
Unexpectedness and inevitability, two of the aesthetic qualities G.H. Hardy identified as being properties of beautiful proofs, together seem paradoxical: how can something be seen as both unexpected and inevitable? In this essay, I argue that the literary concept of ‘deus ex machina’ can be used to clarify the notion of inevitability in proof and reconcile it with unexpectedness.Author's Profile
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Citations of this work
The Aesthetics of Scientific Experiments.Milena Ivanova & Alice Murphy (eds.) - 2023 - New York, NY: Routledge.
The future won’t be pretty: The nature and value of ugly, AI-designed experiments.Michael T. Stuart - 2023 - In Milena Ivanova & Alice Murphy, The Aesthetics of Scientific Experiments. New York, NY: Routledge.
Lange, Morley’s Theorem and Explanatory Pluralism.Christopher Pincock - 2025 - Philosophia Mathematica 33 (3):352-376.
Mathematicians Versus Philosophers in Recent Work on Mathematical Beauty.Blåsjö Viktor - 2018 - Journal of Humanistic Mathematics 8 (1):414-431.
References found in this work
The four-color problem and its philosophical significance.Thomas Tymoczko - 1979 - Journal of Philosophy 76 (2):57-83.
Visualization, Explanation and Reasoning Styles in Mathematics.Paolo Mancosu, Klaus Frovin Jørgensen & S. A. Pedersen (eds.) - 2005 - Springer.
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