“I define as a unit any magnitude that can serve for the numerical derivation of a series of magnitudes, and in particular I call such a unit an original unit if it is not derivable from another unit. The unit of numbers, that is one, I call the absolute unit, all others relative. Zero can never be a unit.”
“From the imputation of confounding axioms with assumed concepts Euclid himself, however, is free. Euclid incorporated the former among his postulates while he separated the latter as common concepts—a...”
Hermann Grassmann
“Geometry can in no way be viewed... as a branch of mathematics; instead, geometry relates to something already given in nature, namely, space. I... realized that there must be a branch of mathematics ...”
Hermann Grassmann
“It is clear... that the concept of space can in no wise be generated by thought. ...Whoever maintains the contrary must undertake to derive the dimensions of space from the pure laws of thought—a prob...”
Hermann Grassmann
“I remain completely confident that the labour I have expended on the science presented here and which has demanded a significant part of my life as well as the most strenuous application of my powers,...”
Hermann Grassmann
“A work on tidal theory... led me to Lagrange's Mécanique analytique and thereby I returned to those ideas of analysis. All the developments in that work were transformed through the principles of the ...”
Hermann Grassmann
