Pi (1998)

Mark Margolis: Sol Robeson

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Quotes 

• Sol Robeson : You remember Archimedes of Syracuse, eh? The king asks Archimedes to determine if a present he's received is actually solid gold. Unsolved problem at the time. It tortures the great Greek mathematician for weeks, insomnia haunts him and he twists and turns in his bed for nights on end. Finally, his equally exhausted wife-she's forced to share a bed with this genius-convinces him to take a bath to relax. While he's entering the tub, Archimedes notices the bath water rise. Displacement, a way to determine volume, and that's a way to determine density, weight over volume. And thus, Archimedes solves the problem. He screams "Eureka" and he is so overwhelmed he runs dripping naked through the streets to the king's palace to report his discovery. Now, what is the moral of the story?

  Maximillian Cohen : That a breakthrough will come.

  Sol Robeson : Wrong! The point of the story is the wife. Listen to your wife, she'll give you perspective. Meaning, you need a break. You have to take a bath or you'll get nowhere. There would be no order only chaos. Go home, Max, and you take a bath.

• Sol Robeson : This is insanity, Max.

  Maximillian Cohen : Or maybe it's genius.

• Sol Robeson : The Ancient Japanese considered the Go board to be a microcosm of the universe. Although when it is empty it appears to be simple and ordered, in fact, the possibilities of gameplay are endless. They say that no two Go games have ever been alike. Just like snowflakes. So, the Go board actually represents an extremely complex and chaotic universe. And that's the truth of our world, Max. It can't be easily summed up with math. There's no simple pattern.

  Maximillian Cohen : But as the game progresses, the possibilities become smaller and smaller. The board does take on order, soon the moves are predictable.

  Sol Robeson : So? So?

  Maximillian Cohen : it, there is a pattern, an order underlying every Go game. Maybe that patter is like the pattern in the stock market, the Torah, this 216 number...

  Sol Robeson : This is insanity, Max!

  Maximillian Cohen : Maybe it's genius! I have to get that number!

  Sol Robeson : Hold on! Slow down! You're losing it! You have to take a breathe. Listen to yourself. You're connecting a computer bug with one you might've had and some religious hogwash. If you want the number 216 in the world, you will be able to find it everywhere. 216 steps from your street corner to your front door, 216 seconds you spend riding on the elevator. When your mind becomes obsessed with anything you filter everything else out and find that thing everywhere. 320, 450, 22, whatever. You've chosen 216 and you'll find it everywhere in nature. But, Max, as soon as you discard scientific rigour, you are no longer a mathematician, you're a numerologist.

• Sol Robeson : There will be no order, only chaos.

• Sol Robeson : That is the truth of our world, Max. It can't be easily summed up with math.

• Maximillian Cohen : Studying the pattern made Euclid conscious of itself. I had to... Before it died it spit out the number. That consciousness is the number?

  Sol Robeson : No, Max. It's only a nasty bug.

  Maximillian Cohen : It's more than that, Sol.

  Sol Robeson : No, it's not. It's a dead end. There's nothing there.

  Maximillian Cohen : It's a door, Sol. It's a door.

  Sol Robeson : A door at the front of a cliff. You're driving yourself over the edge.

• Maximillian Cohen : You've retreated! With your Go and your Books.

  Sol Robeson : Get out, Max!