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Mathematics Goes to the Movies
by Burkard Polster and Marty Ross
The Saragossa Manuscript (1965)
1:05:00
I will tell you something that is based on the principles of geometry. Wanting
to define an infinite number, I write a horizontal eight and divide it by one.
If I want to express infinite smallness, I write a one and divide it by the
horizontal eight. All these signs give me no idea about what I want to express—infinity…greatness.
In the cosmos, infinite smallness in an infinite root of the smallest part of
an atom. So I am defining infinity, but without comprehending. Well, if I do
not comprehend but I can define it, I am getting near poetry, which seems to
be nearer to life than we suspect.
1:49:00
Small re-reference at 1:05:00