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"Mathematics is common sense." "The real numbers, for certain purposes, are too thin. Many beautiful phenomena become fully visible only when the complex numbers are brought to the fore." (Bishop 1967, Ch. 5, Complex Analysis, p. 113) "The primary concern of mathematics is number, and this means the positive integers...In the words of Kronecker, the positive integers were created by God. Kronecker would have expressed it even better if he had said that the positive integers were created by God for the benefit of man (and other finite beings). Mathematics belongs to man, not to God. We are not interested in properties of the positive integers that have no descriptive meaning for finite man. When a man proves a positive integer to exist, he should show how to find it. If God has mathematics of his own that needs to be done, let him do it himself." (Bishop 1967, Ch. 1, A Constructivist Manifesto, p. 2) Errett Bishop, Jane Bishop and Rover are in the photograph right. | ![]() |