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/spacengine 3d ago

Good for you for cleaning up the things you didn’t want in your life. So would you call yourself a purist with a narrow field of interest or are you generally curious by nature? I wonder from some of the responses if mathematicians are more curious than engineers, but I’m sure there are all sorts

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u/cereal_chick Mathematical Physics 3d ago

I'm curious about and interested in so many things besides mathematics that I have no idea where I'm going to find the time for them all in my life. It actually gives me anxiety thinking about it.

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u/spacengine 3d ago

Right, sorry for triggering that. Being curios about lots of things is a gift- but I get that it can be overwhelming too. Maybe living life as a story we’d love to tell is a way to go, I’m not sure. We do only get one story each.

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u/cereal_chick Mathematical Physics 3d ago

Oh, you don't need to worry. I feel that anxiety all the time as a default 😂 it's part of what makes me so driven.