Q: Is there something mysterious about mathematics?
In one sense, of course, there’s less mystery in math than there is in any other human endeavor. In math we can really understand things, in a deeper way than we ever understand anything else. (When I was younger, I used to reassure myself during suspense movies by silently reciting the proof of some theorem: here, at least, was a certainty that the movie couldn’t touch.) So how is it that many people, including mathematicians, do feel there’s something “mysterious” about this least mysterious of subjects? What do they mean?
