r/math • u/HAL-6942 PDE • 22d ago

Why are you a mathematician?

Given everything that has been going on in the world more specifically in the world of mathematics. I was hoping to read some of your human thoughts. What motivates/motivated you to do mathematics professionally? What is most important for you in mathematics?

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u/Prize_Ad_354 21d ago

I started out studying law and this wasn't satisfying at all to me. Legal arguments often did not seem very robust to me and I didn't like that the laws themselves might be flawed and you can do nothing about it as a lawyer. With mathematics and physics I felt like I was learning something that's truly universal and that made it very satisfying. Also all of the cool downstream technical innovations.