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by techwizrd 470 days ago
Is this quote real? I'm familiar with George Pólya's, "If you cannot solve the proposed problem, try to solve first a simpler related problem" but I cannot find any source for the Lenstra quote.
3 comments
gessha 470 days ago
I also found it connected to Polya [1]

https://www.pleacher.com/mp/mquotes/mobquote.html

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v1t 470 days ago
yeah https://www.reddit.com/r/quotes/comments/16qgwcv/if_you_cant...
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isaacfrond 470 days ago
I’ve heard him say it myself in a lecture on the AKS primality test. So, ehh, the source is oral tradition I guess.
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