The New Method of Proof in Mathematics

Girdle wrote in 19 97 that there will never be a fixed method of determining whether a mathematical proposition is true. Progress in mathematics will always depend on the exercise of creativity, he writes. Gurdll's own theorems were a case in point: to prove them, he had to invent a new method of proof. So explanation does, after all, play the same paramount role in pure mathematics as it does in science.