Friday, September 18, 2015

Words of Ada Lovelace

These poetic words of Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) -- concerning translation of mathematical principles into practical forms -- I found here:

Those who view mathematical science,
not merely as a vast body
of abstract and immutable truths,
whose intrinsic beauty, symmetry and logical completeness,
when regarded in their connexion together as a whole,
entitle them to a prominent place 
in the interest of all profound and logical minds,  

but as possessing a yet deeper interest for the human race,
when it is remembered that this science
constitutes the language 
through which alone we can adequately express 
the great facts of the natural world, 
and those unceasing changes of mutual relationship 
which, visibly or invisibly, 

consciously or unconsciously to our immediate physical perceptions, 
are interminably going on in the agencies of the creation we live amidst: 
those who thus think on mathematical truth 
as the instrument through which the weak mind of man 
can most effectually read his Creator's works, will regard with especial interest 
all that can tend to facilitate the translation of its principles 
into explicit practical forms.”
 from the Notes of Ada Lovelace upon L. F. Menabrea’s “Sketch 
of The Analytical Engine  Invented by Charles Babbage”. 1842

This previous post also features Ada Lovelace:   16 July 2015
 This essay by Richard Lobel notes the important contributions of the poetic Lovelace as it considers the directions toward which computers should now go.

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