[F]inding direct measurement so often impossible, we are compelled to devise means of doing it indirectly. Hence arose Mathematics.

— Auguste Comte, The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte (1853)

Source: https://archive.org/details/positivephilosop01comt/page/38/mode/1up?view=theater

Harriet Martineau's 1853 translation of Comte's Cours de philosophie positive.

Topics: mathematics