Black Mage: 2 + 2 = 4
Fighter: You can't transform numbers into other numbers like that. It'd just go on forever. That's like Witchcraft!
You know, I don't think math is a science. I think its a religion. All these equations are like miracles, you take two numbers and when you add them they magically become a new number! And no one can say how it happens. You either believe in it or you don't.
The whole book is full of things that have to be accepted on faith! It's a religion!
The whole book is full of things that have to be accepted on faith! It's a religion!
— Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes
Calvin: I'm not going to do my math homework. Look at these unsolved problems. Here's a number in mortal combat with another. One of them is going to get subtracted. But why? What will be left of him? If I answered these, it would kill the suspense. It would resolve the conflict and turn intriguing possibilities into boring old facts.
Hobbes: I never really thought about the literary possibilities of maths.
Calvin: I prefer to savor the mystery.
How big does the jackpot have to be before the expected value of the [lottery] ticket exceeds the value is costs? Now you can go back to your eighth grade math teacher and tell her you figured out what algebra is for.
— Jordan Ellenberg, How not to be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking
