701
fishing for math (feddit.de)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by anzich@feddit.de to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 32 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I was studying discrete mathematics with a book that had mini biographies of the mathematicians that worked on wharever was being explain on that section. And it had one of them, who considered mathematics an art at the same level as painting or sculpting and hated that mathematicians "lower" themselves to do math that were "useful", like nobody expects the same "useful results" from the art department. This guy worked really hard to only research on pure mathematics and the most "useless" branch of it, number theory. Eventually, his work helped build the necessary mathematics background to make encryption a thing, and now the entire society use his research. It's a shame I can't remember the name of the guy.

[-] mcc@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 year ago
[-] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 3 points 1 year ago

It could be but I don't remember if they talked about Ramanujam on his bio, and pretty sure that why he's most famous for.

[-] mcc@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

He said this: I have never done anything "useful". No discovery of mine has made, or is likely to make, directly or indirectly, for good or ill, the least difference to the amenity of the world.

That's in https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mathematician%27s_Apology, the summary of which matches what you said:

One of the main themes of the book is the beauty that mathematics possesses, which Hardy compares to painting and poetry.[5] For Hardy, the most beautiful mathematics was that which had no practical applications in the outside world (pure mathematics) and, in particular, his own special field of number theory. Hardy contends that if useful knowledge is defined as knowledge which is likely to contribute to the material comfort of mankind in the near future (if not right now), so that mere intellectual satisfaction is irrelevant, then the great bulk of higher mathematics is useless. He justifies the pursuit of pure mathematics with the argument that its very "uselessness" on the whole meant that it could not be misused to cause harm. On the other hand, Hardy denigrates much of the applied mathematics as either being "trivial", "ugly", or "dull", and contrasts it with "real mathematics", which is how he ranks the higher, pure mathematics.

[-] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 9 points 1 year ago

On the other hand, Hardy denigrates much of the applied mathematics as either being "trivial", "ugly", or "dull", and contrasts it with "real mathematics", which is how he ranks the higher, pure mathematics.

This part really resonates with my memory of the bio on the book. Thanks for the research!

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2023
701 points (98.2% liked)

Science Memes

11081 readers
2595 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS