Eli5: what is pure mathematics and why is it important?
In: Mathematics
Pure mathematics is math for the sake of mathematics without an application in mind.
Some people will probably say that pure math is important because a lot of it ends up being useful down the line. For example, number theory was very pure initially but ended up being very useful for cryptography and computer programing.
However, while it’s true that a lot of the ideas do end up being useful later, pure mathematicians would probably tell you that their work is important even if it was guaranteed to never be useful. It’s important in the same way that philosophy, poetry, or art is important. It’s human discovery and expression. It’s expanding human knowledge.
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