Murphy's law and its corollaries are familiar to
everyone who studies mathematics.
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Murphy's Law: If anything can go wrong, it will.
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Corollary 1: At the worst possible time
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Corollary 2: Causing the most damage
Here are some ways in which Murphy's law applies
to mathematics:
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The harder you study, the farther behind you get.
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Every problem is harder than it looks and takes
longer than you expected.
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When you solve a problem, it always helps to know the
answer.
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Any expression can be made equal to any other
expression if you juggle it enough.
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Knowing mathematics and teaching mathematics are not
equivalent.
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Teaching ability is inversely proportional to the
number of papers published.
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Proofs don't convince anybody of anything.
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An ounce of example is worth a pound of theory.
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What is "obvious" to everyone else won't be "obvious"
to you.
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Notes you understood perfectly in class transform
themselves into hieroglyphics at home.
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Textbooks are written for those who already know the
subject.
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Any simple idea will be expressed in incomprehensible
terms.
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The answers you need aren't in the back of the book.
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No matter how much you study for exams, it will never be
enough.
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The problems you can work are never put on the exam.
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The problems you are certain won't be on the test will
be.
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The answer to the problem you couldn't work on the exam
will become obvious after you hand in your paper.