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Hadamard, Jacques - Discovery of the value of a determinant
Identifier
014468
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
An Essay on the Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field – Jacques Hadamard
Most of the 69 correspondents who answered Maillet never experienced any mathematical dreams – I never did….
One phenomenon, however, is certain and I can vouch for its absolute certainty; the sudden and immediate appearance of a solution at the very moment of sudden awakening. On being very abruptly awakened by an external noise, a solution long searched for appeared to me at once without the slightest instant of reflection on my part – the fact was remarkable enough to have struck me unforgettably – and in a quite different direction from any of those which I had previously tried to follow.