Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

It's definitely true that there's a large quantity of pure mathematics that later turns out to be useful outside pure mathematics.

The question that's relevant here, though, is what fraction of pure mathematics is ever useful outside pure mathematics.

I think this would be difficult to measure. My guess: only a small fraction, but some of that turns out to be incredibly useful.




It's hard for me to understand the ratio of the relative body of work that turns out to be useful versus the relative body of work that hasn't seen application yet. Across all institutions, pure mathematics is an extremely small field; yet their papers have an (almost) infinite amount of time available to find an application.




Consider applying for YC's Summer 2025 batch! Applications are open till May 13

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: