Quotes on Math

The analysis of security values is not an abstruse science. While in essence mathematical, it does not soar into the realms of calculus -- in fact, it rarely gets as far as algebra.

Sometimes common sense tells us what statistics cannot.

Risk is about how we make decisions, and only incidentally about the math that we employ to reach those decisions.

If the discernment of value could be reduced to an algorithm and taught, then everybody would be Warren Buffett.

In 44 years of Wall Street experience and study, I have never seen dependable calculations made about common stock values, or related investment policies, that went beyond simple arithmetic or the most elementary algebra.

Mathematics is ordinarily considered as producing precise and dependable results; but in the stock market the more elaborate and abstruse the mathematics the more uncertain and speculative are the conclusions we draw therefrom.