ABSTRACT
The city of Alexandria was founded in the fourth century BCE by Alexander the Great and within a hundred years became a cosmopolitan centre of learning and culture. And mathematicians from the past did things differently from the mathematicians of the present: Imagine how rather strange it would be to see an original portrait of Isaac Newton if he was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt! But for adults there are many who think that they are just not worthy of mathematical arts. It turned out that the status of a mathematician was so highly rated by the group of mathematicians that this was only bestowed by individuals from the group on those who changed the field in a major way or had a calling to become a professor. And then there is of course the perception of mathematics being a kind of desert, and a cold and unfriendly desert at that.
