Women’s History Month continues…
From the New York Times
on the First of May, 1999:
|
Combinatorics in higher mathematics is the study of permutations and combinations of elements in finite sets. In an interview with M.I.T. News last year, [Gian-Carlo Rota (pdf)] gave this definition of his field of study: “Combinatorics is putting different-colored marbles in different-colored boxes, seeing how many ways you can divide them. I could rephrase it in Wall Street terms, but it’s really just about marbles and boxes, putting things in sets.” Indeed, Dr. Rota added, some of his best students go to Wall Street. “It turns out that the best financial analysts are either mathematicians or theoretical physicists,” he said. |
Rota graduated from
Princeton University in 1953.
Some may prefer the following
marbles and boxes:
Related material:
Oct. 21, 2002,
April 30, 2005.