George Polya

GEORGE POLYA




















Jo C Tu
Contemporary Mathematics
Prof. Marcelo Llarull
June 13, 2003















Mr. George Polya would seem to be an excellent teacher for an individual like me. Why? I believe I can’t understand math and maybe if he was still around he can answer my questions about why math seems to be intertwined with everything in the world. Under his tutelage I believe he can devise a personal method of problem solving for me so that math wouldn’t be such a scary subject. Unfortunately, he passed away at the ripe old age of ninety-seven on September 7,1985(Young 401). I thought maybe if I found out a little bit more about him, I could find the meaning of math.

“It is a shortened but not quite wrong to say: I thought I am not good enough for physics and I am too good for philosophy. Mathematics is in between.”(Alexanderson 247). A quote of Polya’s that has been echoed in many articles and books about whos...