Proof you can do hard things
I <i>really</i> despise all the &quot;why you should care about math&quot; takes.<p>The question is never asked about any other school subject and only mathematics has to justify itself that way. I had to learn about categories of plants and animals, interpret 20th century literature, learn about events from a thousand years ago, I did presentations on the demographics of European countries, how certain chemicals react and much, much more. I never used any of that knowledge for anything, certainly not in my career or in university.<p>But somehow <i>mathematics</i> is the one field which needs to justify its own existence? Mathematics needs to bend itself over and &quot;be relevant&quot; so that people will actually learn about it? Why? Why not ask the same of any other subject.<p>Justifying mathematics is easy, especially such a universally applicable subject as calculus. But I see no reason why it should have to justify itself in any way.