Name: Anonymous 2008-04-17 14:55
Mathematics has always troubled me, as I do not love mathematics. I do not feel a strong emotional attachment to it. Yes, I understand it's the basic building block of an abstract view of all reality, and that through the memorization of various formulas one can calculate and create models for greater measurements of all things, which is great. But studying mathematics for the sake of mathematics seems empty, unless I know I'll use it for a career related to what I'm studying. If I were an architect, I would study architecture, and I would do it because I loved studying architecture. I'm not becoming a mathematician, and I have no drive or motivation to study such things.
At times I might have a euphoric realization that math is connected to all things, along with the drive to complete problems like some sort of logic machine presented with ever more challenging puzzles, but more often it seems tedious, pointless, and no great achievement when millions of others have done it before you, your sheet of problems is turned in and forgotten, and you go on to the next assignment, endlessly, like some gross form of manual labor where you must complete sudoku puzzles all day long. To that I say great, leave such things to the workers of math, the diggers and bricklayers who will labor daily with their abstract problems. I'm glad the true lovers of math have chosen their profession and pursued it with vigor. Since they have dedicated to much to their specialized line of work, if I need them I will hire them.
At times I might have a euphoric realization that math is connected to all things, along with the drive to complete problems like some sort of logic machine presented with ever more challenging puzzles, but more often it seems tedious, pointless, and no great achievement when millions of others have done it before you, your sheet of problems is turned in and forgotten, and you go on to the next assignment, endlessly, like some gross form of manual labor where you must complete sudoku puzzles all day long. To that I say great, leave such things to the workers of math, the diggers and bricklayers who will labor daily with their abstract problems. I'm glad the true lovers of math have chosen their profession and pursued it with vigor. Since they have dedicated to much to their specialized line of work, if I need them I will hire them.