It took Russell and Whitehead only 384 pages
“I can’t do everything, Belgarath. I’ll watch Torak; Zedar’s your problem.
What have you been up to lately?”
“I proved that three and three make six,” I replied proudly.
“That took you three centuries? I could have proved that with a handful of
dried beans.”
“But not mathematically, Beldin. Empirical evidence doesn’t really prove anything,
because the investigator might be crazy. Certainty exists only in pure mathematics.”
—from Belgarath the Sorcerer by David and
Leigh Eddings (Del Ray, 1995)
—suggested by Dale Hathaway