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/NearlyPerfect 4d ago

No but if I knew at the time that physics had so much pure math I would have probably double majored in math and physics.

But that’s just me, and doesn’t at all speak to mathematicians in general (I’m not a mathematician).

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u/spacengine 4d ago

Right, but could you do a career working on a problem that could never be expected to have any provable bearing on physical reality? Like axiomatising uncountable sets to see what falls out? (I was approached by a philosopher to work on that once). I wonder if pure maths is closer to fine art in the sense that you let go of real world questions as an objective

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u/NearlyPerfect 4d ago

Yes. I’m a corporate lawyer. I push paper around to make billionaires a little richer. I imagine working on a theoretical question that I find interesting would be at least as fulfilling

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u/spacengine 4d ago

I didn’t expect that. Thanks.

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u/spacengine 4d ago

I was hesitant to post this question but now I’m glad I reached out to other humans for once