Sunday, October 26, 2008

Soli Deo Gloria

Johann Sebastian Bach appended the words "Soli Deo Gloria" at the end of every piece of music he wrote. Soli Deo Gloria is latin for "Glory to God alone".

There are several ways that mathematicians indicate the end of their proofs. The traditional way is to close with a "QED" or "quod erat demonstrandum". I did that for an unpublished manuscript that I wrote in high school (along with the star for a partially completed proof). The Halmos Symbol, "□" is, I think the American Mathematical Society-approved way to do that now. That's how I end proofs in my recent paper for instance.

Once upon a time I ended my homework proofs with "Soli Deo Gloria". I need to start doing that again.

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