In 1784, Napoleon was admitted to the elite Ecole Militaire in Paris. He trained to become an artillery officer. Among all his tutors, only one individual formed a mistaken idea of him, and that was Bauer, the German master. Young Napoleon never made much advancement in the German language, which offended Bauer.
One day, Napoleon not being in his place, Bauer inquired where he was, and was told that he was attending his examination in the class of artillery. "Oh! So he does learn something?" said Bauer ironically. "Why, sir, he is the best mathematician in the school," was the reply. "Ah! I have always heard it remarked, and I have always believed, that none but a fool could learn mathematics."
"It would be interesting," said the emperor, in relating this anecdote, "to know whether Bauer lived long enough to enjoy the confirmation of his own judgment."
一七八四年，拿破崙獲巴黎頂尖的軍校取錄，接受任砲隊軍官的訓練。他的教師之中，只有一人錯看了這個學生的才能，那就是德語教師鮑爾。年輕的拿破崙，學習德語總不見有多少進步，令鮑爾很不高興。
有一天，鮑爾見拿破崙缺席，問他在那裏，聽到他去了參加砲隊班考試，就語帶譏諷說：「啊，原來他也懂得學習？」有同學回答說：「老師，他的數學，全校最好。」「哈，我常聽到人說，而我也深信，只有蠢材才學得懂數學。」
拿破崙國王曾談到這件事，說道：「我真想知道，鮑爾有沒有那麼長壽，看到他對我的評語應驗，一慰老懷。」