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from the but-this-submission-is-too-small-to-contain-it dept.
One of the world's greatest mathematicians, Sir Andrew Wiles, made a rare public appearance in the Science Museum this week to discuss his latest research, his belief in the value of struggle, and how to inspire the next generation.
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Terms such as 'elegance' and 'beauty' are bandied around by many mathematicians. What do they mean? They are hard to explain but Sir Andrew likened the mathematical equivalent of experiencing the rapture of beauty to walking down a path to explore a garden by the great landscape architect Capability Brown, when a breathtaking vista suddenly beckons. In other words, elegance in mathematics 'is this surprise element of suddenly see everything clarified and beautiful.'But you should 'not stare at it non-stop', he warned, else the majesty will fade, as is also the case with great paintings and music.
Today he is still walking through the great garden of mathematics, 'the language of science,' he said. Another way Sir Andrew described his lifelong passion to the rapt audience was as a 'beautiful edifice...the most permanent thing there is.'
Industry and government realise that mathematicians are the lifeblood of a modern economy but are concerned by the lack of uptake of maths. Most young people 'do have a real appetite for mathematics', said Sir Andrew, but they are put off because, he believes, their teachers are not viscerally interested in the subject.
Sir Andrew Wiles famously proved Fermat's Last Theorem.
(Score: 2) by jelizondo on Wednesday December 06 2017, @02:53AM (4 children)
So, in your view cryptography and statistics are applied-applied Mathematics or just applied Mathematics?
Think about crypto-currencies, blockchain and high-speed trading before you answer. Do you think industry and government are not interested in such purely mathematical endeavors?
Even Maduro’s Venezuela just released a crypto-currency, so I think engineers will have jobs for the foreseeable future but mathematicians are coming out of the basement and into corner offices in Wall Street and the Pentagon, and of course, the government of Venezuela :-)
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday December 06 2017, @03:12AM (1 child)
The interest is not in mathematics. The interest is in outcomes.
See the submission about the state of R&D a few weeks ago - mathematics is similar to investment in R&D - something that costs money, and eats into bonuses and dividends.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @09:13PM
> something that costs money, and turns into bonuses and dividends.
FTFY
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @05:08AM (1 child)
Sure, greedy assholes are abusing math to get Wall Street jobs, but what of purists who don't fucking care about cryptoshitcoin? Die in the gutter, of course!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @02:21PM
A similar point is people who are interested in big data but don't want to undermine people's privacy by working for a company that wholesale gathers data on everyone. Much harder to find a job if your values preclude certain things.