I always want to try to understand why things work. I'm not interested in getting a formula without knowing what it means. I always try to dig behind the scenes, so if I have a formula, I understand why it's there. And understanding is a very difficult notion

— Michael Atiyah, Michael Atiyah’s Imaginative State of Mind (2016)

Source: https://www.quantamagazine.org/michael-atiyahs-mathematical-dreams-20160303

Atiyah's answer to Quanta's question about a guiding big question, in Siobhan Roberts's 2016 article.

Topics: learning, mathematics