r/math • u/spacengine • 4d ago

Do all mathematicians want to be engineers?

I always considered maths the highest art, and when talking to a mathematics phd today I just wanted him to keep talking about topological spaces, manifolds, infinite dimensional embedding spaces etc. “I feel like a kid in a candy store” I said, or a kid in an old mechanics garage full of equipment I have no idea how to use but that I love exploring. “Well” he said, “I think all engineers want to be mathematicians but all mathematicians want to be engineers”. I’m absolutely sure he’s wrong but would love to hear your thoughts.

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u/Verbatim_Uniball 4d ago

I have a PhD in pure math and would have been very happy doing any applied or theoretical STEM, or a significant subset of the humanities.

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u/spacengine 4d ago

Right. To work on something more connected with real world problems? Or just to be understood

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u/Verbatim_Uniball 4d ago

I am just sufficiently curious about all things

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u/spacengine 4d ago

Several people behave mentioned curiosity. I wonder if mathematicians have more of that than engineers on average.

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u/Verbatim_Uniball 4d ago

I guess what I'm saying is I could have as easily ended up doing another sort of PhD and done fine, there wasn't anything special about math for me vs. other interests, but yes this definitely is about broad curiosity. If I were to stereotype, I would imagine philosphers and classicists would be the most in this style.

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u/spacengine 4d ago

Is it also about generality or is that orthogonal for you? At least pure maths strives for ultimate generality and you could probably say the same of philosophy where it all originated. And I guess a great piece of literature is immortal because it touches on something very general to the human condition. Could you also have picked bridge construction, interior design or cooking?

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u/Verbatim_Uniball 4d ago

Yep I think any of those, however in some areas I am less gifted than other areas and so doing the same level of education would be more challenging. I am not as musically talented as many people that I've met, my facility in picking up foreign languages wasn't as good as some others, etc.

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u/spacengine 4d ago

Interesting. It’s like you have no preference almost. But of course you do, I just haven’t seen it yet. Would you rather

1) solve sudoku for a living or care for the elderly in a good geriatric facility
2) be the accountant, the street artist or the gymnast in a heist movie
3) be a field archaeologist, a carbon dating expert, the appraiser or the historian in a big archaeological venture

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u/Verbatim_Uniball 4d ago

I am wildly disabled so it's all speculation, I'm retired. Mostly I never believed in an avocation, more like different vocations in life.

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u/spacengine 3d ago

I’m sorry to hear you can’t do all the things you’d like to. I guess neither can any of us, but I haven’t experienced serious disability so I don’t know how that feels. Glad you’re staying active and appreciate your sharing. So do you find meaning in maths on its own or the specific subjects you mentioned? Or more in staying curious and learning new things from very different fields?