Quote:
Originally posted by filtherton
Incidentally, i once read a book called "The Mathematical Experience" and there was a brief chapter on "pure" mathematics, that is, mathematics with no possible application to anything. It seems there are elitest mathematicians who look down their noses at math that can be applied to science and the human condition. These mathematicians will study their little area for years, perhaps decades, carving out their little niche. Eventually they get to a level of understanding of their particular specialty that is equaled by only a handful of other people on this planet. Then they die and maybe a handful of people will ever be able to understand and appreciate what they did in their lifetime. Their life's work probably amounting to nothing more than a footnote in some math history book.
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There are no elitist mathematicians, we're all elite.
The idea that there are mathematics that can't possibly have any application is such an exaggeration that I don't mind calling it a fallacy. Even for the most abstract branches of mathematics, we simply say that there is currently no known application. The idea that it is interesting and gives us confidence in our reasoning is useful enough, for the moment. However, too often in the past has some branch of abstract mathematics become applicable that we dare not say that something is useless. Two very important examples are
complex numbers and
calculus!