What is the point of studying maths at a very high level?

DiracPool

This sounds like a good argument NOT to study mathematics. Darn, just when I was starting to enjoy differential equations.

AlephZero

True story about the difference between a mathematican working as an engineer (me!) and a physicist who really wanted to be a mathematian (my boss).

I had written the specifcation for putting some new gizmo into a finite element analysis code, full of details of numerical integration, how to evaluate Jacobians, etc.

It came back from my boss with the comment "You could make this a lot shorter by <insert half a page of divs, grads, curls, and double and triple integrals here>"

So I sent a note back saying "OK, but if this is a spec for a computer program, how would you actually write the code"?

The answer: "You do it your way, of course".

ilmareofthemai

Agree!
I recently read A Universe in Zero Words, a book about the history and influence of important equations (if you want some examples of crazy mathematicians, read the chapter about the types of infinities-the outcome for a couple of those mathematicians, i.e. Godel, was not so great) and developed a strong appreciation for mathematics, especially geometry. A great read.
Also, as someone else mentioned, math and physics sometimes develop at different rates, and the math Pauli needed was already developed, etc. For more examples, read Euclid's Window, a book about the major mathematical revolutions and their connections with physics. Is mathematics inherent, or a construct? It has to do with the definition but maybe we'll never know...It has already been proven that math can't be proven (Universe in Zero Words)!