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Trivial

According to the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (1985), mathematicians designate any Theorem as ``trivial'' once a proof has been obtained--no matter how difficult the theorem was to prove in the first place. There are therefore exactly two types of true mathematical propositions: trivial ones, and those which have not yet been proven.

See also Proof, Theorem


References

Feynman, R. P. and Leighton, R. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! New York: Bantam Books, 1985.




© 1996-9 Eric W. Weisstein
1999-05-26