Paul Mecurio

If that person is engaged, I had a terrible science teacher in middle school.

He smoked cigarettes and he'd be like, all right, we're going to make a battery today.

And I always say, if I had Neil as a science teacher, it's the only compliment I can give him.

is I would probably be in science today because he emanates passion and enthusiasm and love and fun.

And at that point, you can come up with all the sort of mechanical mechanisms through which you teach math.

But if it's being delivered in a dry way by someone who's indifferent or disconnected, it is never going to land on the students.

You're saying mathematicians are generally unfun people.

They're all dead to me.

I got to be honest.

No, no.

I don't mean that about... I mean about if any...

Any presentation to human beings comes through best when the person delivering the information.

Whether it's math, science, if you're talking about English, if you're watching somebody interview somebody on TV, you're only compelled in that interview because you're seeing a real relationship between two people, which emanates initially from the host.

It's all about emotionality.

And then the information comes and is absorbed.

Absolutely.

This is William Warren.

William from Abingdon, Maryland.

When you're working on a very difficult proof, how do you decide whether you're missing a key idea versus simply not pushing far enough with the tools you already have?

I'd love that.