Mathematics and Culture V

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“I mean the third”cried the old man taking up the geometry book. “Well, young lady…”and he bent over his daughter. The princess gazed with terror into her father's keen eyes. He, on his part, got angry – pushed away his chair, dragged it back with a cl- ter – trying all the while to control himself; then again he would break out and storm, and wish the whole thing to the devil. As ill-luck would have it, to-day again his daughter answered at random and wrongly. “What an idiot!”he exclaimed, flinging down the book. The he rose, walked up and down, came back and stroked his daughter's hair, sat down again, and began his explanation once more. “It does not do, princess, it does not do”, he said, seeing her rise to leave him with VII the book in her hand. “Mathematics is a noble science, and I do not want you to be just like all the silly young ladies one meets. Persevere and you will learn to like the work, and the dullness will be nocked out of your brain. ” These words were spoken by Prince Andrei Bolkonskij, who was talking to Princess Marja Bolokonskaja, his daughter. They are two of the protagonists of Lev Tolstoy’s War and Peace, finished in 1869.