/sci/ - Science & Math » Thread #13273474

52KiB, 254x257, f09b215f889a0ebba9b2d944a86e3098.png

View Same Google iqdb SauceNAO

Anonymous Sun 13 Jun 15:21:16 2021 No.13273474 View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>13273494 >>13273506 >>13273516 >>13273559 >>13274000 >>13274126 >>13274219

what's even the point of modern mathematics? like are we actually finding any useful applications or is it just ways for nerds to sniff each others farts for grant money

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 13 Jun 2021 15:22:42 No.13273477 Report

Quoted By: >>13273490 >>13273559

pretty much except it's for little money. useful math has been done by theoretical physicists for the last 100 years anyway.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 13 Jun 2021 15:25:40 No.13273490 Report

Quoted By:

>>13273477
Theoretical physicists are even bigger fart sniffers than mathematicians.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 13 Jun 2021 15:27:02 No.13273494 Report

Quoted By: >>13273555

>>13273474
The difference between being a smart fella and a fart smella is smaller than you might think

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 13 Jun 2021 15:28:11 No.13273496 Report

Quoted By: >>13273523

you don't seem to understand the pursuit of math
there doesn't need to be an application
however there have been many historical examples of math preceding important applications by decades

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 13 Jun 2021 15:31:17 No.13273506 Report

Quoted By: >>13273523

>>13273474
The thing about what useful and what isn't is that you won't know until you actually make the discovery. Things that were deemed hopelessly useless centuries ago are now the bread and butter of many applications. Even nuclear physicists at the beginning of the 20th centuries thought their field was completely useless and "philosophical" in nature as they had no idea someone would build nuclear bombs and nuclear power plants. So the short-term answer to your question is that yes, most modern math seems to be utterly useless. The long-term answer is that maybe in the future someone will figure out how to make use of it.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 13 Jun 2021 15:35:08 No.13273516 Report

Quoted By:

>>13273474
Neither.

>applications
are a meme. What's the application of music? It's a joyful part of culture, not more not less

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 13 Jun 2021 15:38:20 No.13273523 Report

Quoted By: >>13273644

>>13273496
>>13273506
I get it, kind of. My trig/calc teacher used to say "math is developed before useful math is," but it just seems so fuckin out there now. I'm cool if people are just doing it because it's like a complex puzzle they're trying to identify and solve, but I wanted to know how much that was the case vs people actually finding useful applications today. I'm glad nerds have something to do for fun, though

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 13 Jun 2021 15:49:42 No.13273555 Report

Quoted By:

>>13273494
Gold

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 13 Jun 2021 15:52:23 No.13273559 Report

Quoted By:

>>13273474
There is still innovative math being done today, but a lot of it is navel gazing that doesn't justify the amount of money funneled into it. Academics in these areas are essentially white collar welfare queens, and they either don't give a fuck or try to justify it with this eternal cope >>13273477

Anonymous

View Same Google iqdb SauceNAO math is for gaylords.png, 417KiB, 800x600

Anonymous Sun 13 Jun 2021 16:27:21 No.13273644 Report

Quoted By:

>>13273523
My two cents opinion is that we probably won't get any major breakthrough like Newton's and Leibniz's calculus any time soon. Both in math and in physics it looks like all the low-hanging fruits have been picked. 19th-century classical physics is more than good enough for most practical applications, and most scientists and engineers are taught 19th-century mathematics rather than modern mathematics (they learn "advanced calculus" rather than "mathematical analysis" and they always operate on rather concrete objects like Euclidean spaces instead of more abstract objects like metric or topological spaces). The only scientists who seem to need a lot of modern mathematics work on things that appear to be fairly useless (like string theorists). It's possible this is a temporary stagnation or perhaps math has really been played out and there is nothing very useful to be discovered anymore; only time will tell. But considering the relatively recent explosion in mathematical activity (starting from the late 17th century to our own days) after centuries of stagnation (nothing major really happened in math from the times of Archimedes to the times of Newton), it may not be unlikely that we're simply about to enter a period of stagnation and one day there will be a new revolutionary idea that will lead to the creation of more useful math.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 13 Jun 2021 18:28:20 No.13274000 Report

Quoted By:

>>13273474
math is always ahead if its time. people in the past used to think the same about newer math that's actually useful today

Anonymous

View Same Google iqdb SauceNAO 1607925639562.jpg, 749KiB, 2880x3840

Anonymous Sun 13 Jun 2021 18:31:55 No.13274020 Report

Quoted By:

If someone is funding your hobby, why not take their money and have fun?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 13 Jun 2021 18:44:52 No.13274073 Report

Quoted By:

You seem to have "useful" and "enabling of an unsustainable consumerist way of life" mixed up with each other, my friend. Are you American by any chance?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 13 Jun 2021 19:00:26 No.13274126 Report

Quoted By:

>>13273474
Math has always been about killing time

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 13 Jun 2021 19:25:37 No.13274219 Report

Quoted By:

>>13273474
No

Capcode	All Only User Posts Only Moderator Posts Only Admin Posts Only Developer Posts
Show Posts	All Only With Images Only Without Images
Deleted Posts	All Only Deleted Posts Only Non-Deleted Posts
Ghost Posts	All Only Ghost Posts Only Non-Ghost Posts
Post Type	All Only Sticky Threads Only Opening Posts Only Reply Posts
Results	All Grouped By Threads
Order	Latest Posts First Oldest Posts First

Your latest searches