Request for reference to the (inexact?) quote "The introduction of coordinates to geometry was an act of aggression" I heard this quote years ago in a class but I can't find any reference to it or who said it and I'd greatly appreciate any information behind it, as I remember it, it goes;

"The introduction of coordinates to geometry was an act of aggression"

I don't think it's exactly that but it's something in that vein. Sorry if this is vague but I can't seem to find any reference to it. Thanks in advance! 
 A: The quote originates in Hermann Weyl's Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science (pg. 90). The exact quote is a little less pithy than it has come to be customarily rendered:

The introduction of numbers as coordinates by reference to the
particular division scheme of the open one-dimensional continuum is an
act of violence whose only practical vindication is the special
calculatory manageability of the ordinary number continuum with its
four basic operations.

The pithy version may derive from Gauge Fields, Knots and Gravity by John Baez and Javier P. Muniain, published in 1994, where Weyl's quote appears on page 49 as

The introduction of numbers as coordinates [...] is an
act of violence whose only practical vindication is the special
calculatory manageability of the ordinary number continuum with its
four basic operations.

followed by an article by Hans-Joachim Baues in Handbook of Algebraic Geometry, published in 1995, where it's further shortened (pg. 4) to

"The introduction of numbers as coordinates [...] is an
act of violence..."

The ellipses have been dropped in various online sites that compile quotes without sourcing them, including this one, where you can download these and other of Weyl's words superimposed on various "wallpaper" backgrounds. It might be of interest to see if the OP's version of the quote, with "aggression" replacing "violence," gets picked up and reproduced in the future.
