Obvious

The learned physicist was lecturing to a vast hall filled with eager students who hung on his every word. While deriving some particularly obscure point of theory, the professor wrote an equation on the board and announced,

"From this, it is obvious that we can proceed to write the following relationship."

With that, a still more intricate second equation was added to the first.

Then he paused and a look of concern filled his features. After staring hard at the two equations he spoke:

"Wait a while," said he, "I may be wrong ..."

Taking a seat he seized a pad and wrote furiously for several minutes. Pausing for thought, he crossed through what he had written and began again. This process continued for half an hour while the class sat spellbound in absolute silence.

Finally, rising at last with an air of satisfaction, the professor spoke again:

"Yes, I was right in the first place. "It IS obvious that the second equation follows from the first ..."

---------------A Final Thought ...

"To insure the adoration of a theorem for any length of time, faith is not enough, a police force is needed as well."

- Albert Camus (1913–60), French-Algerian philosopher, author. The Rebel, pt. 3, “The Regicides” (1951; tr. 1953)