A professor of psychology was exploring the creative process and as one of his subjects chose a mathematician who was world famous for his ability to solve problems. They gave him a problem to work on. He wrote something down and immediately scribbled it out. He wrote something else down and scribbled it out. The professor asked him to leave everything on the page. He explained that he was interested in the process, the wrong answers and the right answers. The mathematician sat down. Wrote something. The psychology professor waited in anticipation but the mathematician announced he could not proceed without erasing his mistakes. While the mathematician in this situation is undoubtedly fairly idiosyncratic in how he attacks problems there is a strongly felt separation between the creative process of mathematics and the published or finished product.
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