He plugs into life by spending time with his American wife and his two children, skiing, or driving one of his three cars. Other mathematicians forget the real world, or see it in their own terms, Wilmott says.
“I am talking the colors of the rainbow and they only see black and white,” he says.
Still, he admits applying math to his personal life: while arguing with his wife, he sometimes uses the reductio ad absurdum principle to prove a point. In a delicate or tense conversation, bringing up extremes may not be the best way towards consensus, he acknowledges.
But the mathematical habit of challenging assumptions has always been a constant in his life, and he swears it always will be.
“The natural thing for me is to think there is something wrong if everybody is agreeing,” he says.
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