30 May 1999 - proof by contradiction

Jay Scott : Daily Whale : archive : 1999 : 30 May 1999

Mathematics is beautiful but rude, like a starling, or a starlet.

Proof by reductio ad absurdum:
If math were polite, it would have to stop worrying about truth and say quietly, “That’s very interesting.” And if math were ugly, it would be barred from schoolrooms like history. Being thus neither ugly nor polite, math must be beautiful and rude. Q.E.D.

clue:

“Reductio ad absurdum“ is the Latin for proof by contradiction, in which you prove you’re right by showing you’d be wrong if you were wrong.

give me a clue so sweet and true